Eternity's Comet
by Spiritor-XYZ
Summary: When Eternity's Comet passes in only a year, and a great evil has risen and threats to destroy the only thing that prevents an apocalypse, our characters must join together to stop it.
1. Life As We Know It

Life as we know it, is an art, primarily one of deception. It is a disease; a terminal illness developed from the moment of conception that inevitably ends in the most welcoming of entrances. This entrance is none other than the beginning of death.

I will admit, in my days, I sold myself short at every chance I had. Some may have told me that my pessimism is stemmed from the fact that I never amounted to much in my time.

But I had a legitimate alibi for my absence in the real world. I was afraid. Every breath I took was one of anxiety; a sharp inhalation of horror and fear. Every exhale was one of relief; a temporary relief from a fear that had ended, with another right around the corner.

Some said I had a severe case of paranoia, but what they didn't understand was that I knew the truth of the matter. What matter, you say? Life of course.

It is a common idea in humans that you will be accepted more once you have left a legacy. With this legacy they will feel an inner wholeness, as they have gained universal respect.

Yet the fact that no human will be on the planet forever seems to have been overlooked in the grotesque exhilaration of the moments that pass by, bringing everyone a little closer to decay.

If I were to go out and make something extraordinary of myself, I would love to bask in my glory for just as long as my development stands. Call me boastful, I don't expect you to understand. I would rather die than do something great and die afterwards.

This is only because of the feeling of accomplishment. How long will that feeling even last? It is a shallow feeling, one which, if felt at a great intensity, would be portrayed as a supercilious gesture. Yet, if not felt at all, how would one feel that they have done something great in the first place?

The feeling is one which needs to be present in moderation. However, with moderating this sentiment, one must understand that it is only on a superficial level.

I would rather pass away without knowing the limits I had to place on my greatness.

I would rather pass away without lying to myself.

I would rather pass away.

I will admit, it is indeed a phenomenal aspect in life to have some sort of motivation, be it one of selfish descent or one of true devotion.

The stimuli we push upon ourselves are that of artificial information and of pure ignorance.

I would urge the masses to find some source of goodness in their filth, but my throat has grown hoarse and my efforts were put to rest when I had my revelation about life.

Fortunately, this story strays far from the limits of what mankind perceives as accomplished. It does not revolve around me; I am merely here to share with you what it means to be a human of the norm with a rational outlook on life, as oppose to the foolish radiance I see from the popular.

Yet I only dare say the protagonists of this story are anywhere close to normal.

They fought because they wanted to live, not because they wanted to make something excellent of themselves.

An ultimate evil arose in their land, and they sought to defeat it for the purpose of its downfall; the only personal gain developed would be the chance to see the sun another day.

Let us wander away from the world we live in to another world.

A world that seems to have lost the technological advancements we hold in such a high regard.

A world where the intellectual will to further annihilate the mind is comatose, if it even existed at any point.

A world which has evaded the presence of a contemporary lifestyle that feeds the minds in us lies.

I will remind you.

Sometimes the best intentions end up in a catastrophic loss of hope.

**A/N: Pretty Good right? Yeah, well, I wasn't the one who wrote this. Actually, it was my cousin who knew about me writing this, and one night he sent me this and said "Use it for the intro!" But seriously, he's pretty good a writing.**


	2. Preface

"No!" The black haired man shouted as he drew his most powerful sword from his back. "We have to stop them!"

The man to his left swung his axe and extended fully, while the man to his right pulled out an array of small knives in his hand. Across from them stood an army of millions of soldiers, and the fighting started immediately. The axe-wielder pushed a button with a click, and the metal part of the axe was sent flying at the soldiers. The man with the sword pulled out the other four swords and started throwing them and slashing the soldiers while he simultaneously slashed with his huge crystal sword. He looked to his right and saw a few soldiers fall forward, with knives in stabbed through their back. They all heard a rumbling and turned around, as the gigantic metal machine before them collapsed and shattered to pieces.

"I never thought…" The axe wielder said in fear, "It has begun…"

Now, you're probably confused right about now… For you to understand the events occurring, then it would be best to start at the beginning…


	3. Eternity's Comet

Since the beginning of the universe, there has been a comet that circles our solar system. This comet is unique. It circles the solar system, yet it is fused also with a meteor. It is also gigantic, enough to cause an apocalypse if it ever hit our planet. Every millennia, this comet passes by our planet, so our ancestors named it Eternity's Comet. Since it is infused with a meteor, the natural attraction between our planet's core and the meteor has caused it to provide a threat to our race. So, in response, our ancestors built a machine with their ancient technologies to prevent this from ever happening. It was properly named the Shockwave. When Eternity's Comet passes; we activate it to send a pulse through the planet, altering the core for a short time, allowing the comet to pass without being interrupted by our core.

Our story begins thousands of years after this machine was built. The comet will pass in a year, and an evil force has risen and is posing a threat. Let us join our protagonists as the story progresses.


	4. The Brawl

Many people shot weird glances as the black hooded man passed through their small town of Drenia. He was used to this and kept his face concealed beneath his hood. His cloak was completely zipped up around his body, from head to toe, so nobody could even see his feet as he walked. From the way his sleeves were blowing behind him, it was noticeable that his arms were crossed underneath his cloak. The man saw a group of people crowded in a circle around a small area. Curiously, he walked up to this crowd, and saw that two men were fighting. One had a very large berserker sword, and the other was holding a small knife in his hand.

The man with the knife made the first move. He jumped forward and his knife clashed against the man's sword. They held their weapons their for a while, pushing and trying to overpower one another.

_ Wow, _the hooded man thought, _that tiny knife, and yet he is able to stand up against that gigantic berserker sword._

Then the man with the knife did something no one in the crowd expected. He threw the knife he was holding at the other man. He easily deflected it with his sword, and smirked, thinking he had won. Then the unarmed man then reached into the to pouches on both of his hips, and pulled out two more small knives. He then rushed at the man with the sword, barraging him with alternating attacks from his two knives. He then jumped up, did a flip in the air, and positioned himself above the man. Not hesitating, he threw his two knives down at the man. He managed to block one of them, but them the other dug into his shoulder. The man pulled the knife out of his shoulder and dropped it on the ground, with blood dripping down his shoulder on to the ground. He knew that he needed to end this now, so he put both hands on his sword, and took a common kendo stance. The other man pulled out one last knife, and took the same stance. They ran at each other and took one last swing of their weapons. They ended facing away from each other on opposite sides.

The man dropped his sword. "Damn." he said, "Looks like I'm done." and then he dropped right next to it, with a hole through his chest visible to the crowd.

After the crowd had parted and the man had picked up the rest of his knives and put them away, the hooded man approached him from behind, stuck his arm through his sleeve, and put a hand on his shoulder. He turned around, and was shocked at this mysterious man. With a closer look, the man saw his spiky black hair and brilliant blue eyes, and the assassin-like outfit he had on. Seeing the look this man's face he took his hood off, revealing his face. He was a tall man, and he had he had long and messy black hair and glowing emerald eyes.

"My name is Lunar Sol. What's yours?" The man said with a smile.

"I'm Devon, Devon Nessin."

"I must say; your skills with the knife are quite impressive."

"You think so?"

"Of course. How old are you anyway?"

"Eighteen. And you?"

_ All that power, and he's only eighteen? _Lunar thought. _His moves are sloppy, but with a few years of training, he could be quite the warrior. _"I'm twenty-three" He responded.

"Well, thanks, but I should probably get going."

"Wait." Lunar said, sounding urgent "I want you to come with me, and I have a friend I want you to meet."

"Ok, who?" Devon said, looking around.

Lunar laughed, "He's not here, I need you to come with me to the Boar Forest, it's just east of here."

Hesitantly Devon followed. _Why is he taking me to the forest? And why is his friend all the way in the forest anyway? _With many questions in his head, Devon followed Lunar.


	5. A Black Axe

They walked for miles, and eventually reached the forest. It was a huge, redwood tree forest. They still walked for what seem like days to Devon through the forest. Turns out it was only about an hour. Finally they reached a clearing in of the trees. Lunar stopped walking, and motioned for Devon to stop as well. He put his index finger to his mouth, telling Devon to be quiet. They then heard a squeal and some rumbling. A gigantic boar emerged and knocked down some trees, and charged right at Lunar and Devon. It was at least one hundred feet long, and fifty feet tall. Devon tried to run away, but Lunar grabbed his shoulder.

"Don't worry." He said, calmly, _He should be here soon. _He stuck his arm back down his sleeve, and Devon heard a sort of clanking sound.

_What does he have under there? _Devon thought.

It turns out he didn't get to see then, because just as the boar was about to reach them, a man came out wielding an double sided battle-axe with a handle at least five feet long, and five feet from edge to edge of the axe. The axe was made of some metal that was completely black. He decapitated the boar with one wide swing of his axe. It crashed just inches away from Lunar and Devon. The man put the handle of the axe on his shoulder, pointing it back, and turned around. Devon got a good look at his face. He was a very tall man, wore a red tunic with shoulder and arm guards, and had neon blue eyes with short red hair on the sides and a fauxhawk on top.

Turning around he said with an arrogant tone to his voice, "Hey, didn't expect you to be here. Is that you Lunar?"

"Sure is." He said, taking his hood off. "It's been years since we last saw each other."

"And, if I may ask, who might this be?" The man with the axe asked.

"Oh, I haven't introduced you two. This is Devon Nessin; he's a person I met as I was heading here. He has quite the skill with the knives and I see potential in him." He then looked at Devon and motioned to the axe wielder, "And this is my old friend from the Weapons Academy, Caleb Voltair."

"Why don't you come back to my place?" Caleb said, "We can talk and catch up with each other."

"Though that would be great, we have more pressing matters to talk about." Lunar said. "We'll talk about that later though, let's go."

The three of them headed off, and Caleb dragged the boar's carcass through the forest behind him.


	6. Crystal and Meteor

Once they had arrived, the trio sat down, as Caleb began to cook the boar meat. He served it out to each three, a feast of bacon and all sorts of cooked pork.

"So how has boar hunting gone this season?" Lunar said with a mouth full of pork.

"Oh it's been great. I have a whole warehouse of reserve meat near here. I doubt I'll be going hungry any time soon." As he said this he took a big bite of pork.

After the meal, Lunar said to Caleb. "I think you know why I'm here…"

"Yeah."

"We've only got one year until the comet passes, and you very well know about… about _Him_."

The way Lunar said the word "Him" sent chills down Devon's spine. "Who's 'Him'?"

"Ah," Lunar said, as he turned to Devon, "There is a man named Anx. No one knows who he is, but he seems to be a big threat. He lurks in mystery and is also threatening to destroy the Shockwave." He turned to Caleb "You know tha-"

"You fool." Caleb said, "That was built with ancient technologies and has stood there for thousands of years. There's no way it will fall."

"Fine, but I'm warning you, and I want to train Devon here, in case we ever needed to fight."

Once they finished talking, Caleb led the two into his basement. It was a wide-open area with a painted on sky on the ceilings and a bunch of artificial boulders inside it.

"I need to see your abilities Devon." Caleb said, leading them down "I'd like to see how you've progressed as well Lunar. Shouldn't you take off that cloak about now?"

"What a bother." He said to himself. "Very well."

He released his cloak and it went flying behind him. Devon gazed in awe as he saw what was under it. Lunar had a thin chainmail with plate legs and shoulder guards underneath his cloak. He wore a blue crystal pendant in the shape of a diamond around his neck. For weapons, he had two small katanas on either side of his waist. But that wasn't the most impressive part. Hanging from his back, was a gigantic double-edged sword from his shoulder to his feet. It was wrapped in black cloth serving as the sheath, and had a long black chain extending from the hilt. It was at least six feet in length and half-a-foot in width. But the amazement wasn't over for Devon. Lunar then swung his sword off his back. It came out of the black cloth, revealing the blade. Devon gasped inawe as he saw it. It was made of radiant blue material.

"Yep." Lunar said, "Pure crystal. Unbreakable and Unparalled by any metal weapon. Of course your weapon is amazing too."

Caleb took a look at his black axe, and began to laugh. Lunar joined in as well.

"What's so funny?" Devon asked, puzzled "What about his axe?"

"Well, you see…" Caleb said, "The blade of this axe is made completely out of meteorite. I had to go through a lot of black market deals to get this. And Lunar, I have made quite a few alterations to it since the last time I saw you."

He twisted the handle of the axe, and pulled on it. It then extended, to about thirteen feet long. Then, he took a wide horizontal swing, and the top released and flew ten feet forward, attached to the handle by a chain. He then began to swing it on the chain above his head.

"Like it?" Caleb said with a grin. " I can alter it to be any length from five to thirteen feet. Also, the chain can shoot ten more feet forward. That means I could kill you from about twenty feet away."

"Well' I guess it's impressive." Lunar said, passive as ever. "I've made a few alterations to mine as well. First for my regular weapons."

He pulled out two of his katanas in each hand. Then, with a clicking noise he attached them to form two double bladed swords.

"There's those, and now…"

He pulled out his crystal sword and swung in a circle around his head using the chain on the hilt. He then threw it in the air and grabbed the hilt in mid-spin. He swung a wide horizontal arc and some small crystal fragments flew out, and regenerated on the sword.

"Impressive; that could provide useful."

"Now for you…" Caleb said as he turned to Devon.

They spent hours testing Devon's ability. Once they had fully tested his ability they figured it was time to get Devon his special weapons. Caleb had made a deal to get him two special knives to use primarily.

"Here they are." Caleb said, handing them to Devon, "Use them well."

In his hand, Devon held two knives made of pure gold. They had two prongs coming out from each side, forming almost a mini trident shape.

"So how do I use these?" Devon asked, rolling them around in his hand.

"Well first," Caleb said "if you press the button on the hilt, the prongs will fold up, just try it."

Devon did as instructed. Amazed, he continued to fold it up and bring it back out.

"Also," Caleb said, interrupting Devon's playing with his new weapons, "if you connect the hilts, you'll find a special surprise."

With anticipation in his eyes, he put the two hilts of his knives together. There was a flash of light, and Devon turned away, caught by surprise by this light. When he turned back, he couldn't believe what he saw. He held in his hand a long golden pole, with two trident heads on either side of the pole.

"Wow!" Devon said, "This is amazing!"

He began to play around with it, spinning it over his head, and once he was content with it, he took it apart and put the two knives away.

"Now," Caleb said, "it's getting late, we should get some sleep."

They all walked up the stairs of the basement, and went to sleep.


	7. Attack

Lunar awoke late that night. He heard a noise outside the house so he decided to go check it.

"Ungh, who has to make so much noise this late at night?" Lunar asked himself. He shook his head and looked out the window. What he saw gave even him a shock. "Caleb, Devon, get up!" He shouted as he jumped on the two.

"Wha… what?" Devon said, half asleep.

"We've got company!" Lunar shouted, and Caleb and Devon immediately followed by shooting out of their beds and grabbing their weapons.

They peered out the window and had the same reaction that Lunar had. They saw hundreds of soldiers with crossbows and spears marching through the forest, killing boars, knocking down trees and burning them.

"What could they be here for?" Devon asked in fear.

"I don't know." Caleb said, "But we can't let them destroy this forest, it's my home, and I will stop them."

The three then jumped out of the building and met the group of soldiers, but they still concealed their weapons.

"Hah!" one soldier said with a chuckle, "Who are these three? Are they gonna stop us?" The way the soldier said the last sentence was almost in a baby-like tone to mock the group of three that stood before them.

Caleb just sighed and said, "Do you really want to challenge us?" and pointed his axe straight forward at the soldiers. "Very well." he said with another sigh. He began to spin in a circle with his axe, and when he released it, it spun like a flying disc and went straight through his house. The soldierslaughed at the failure before them. "Is that all you got?" the soldier who taunted the three earlier said.

Then, what happened was unexpected even to Lunar and Devon. The axe came spinning from the right of the soldiers and cut right through at least ten of them. This sparked the fighting between the two opposing forces. Devon ran forward and threw two knives forward, then pulled out his two gold knives, though retracted. After a few minutes of watching them fight, Lunar decided to take some action. He let his cloak fly off and pulled out only one katana. He slowly walked forward, deflecting arrows that came at him and slashing through any soldiers he came near. He then threw two of his katanas at the soldiers in front of him, and pulled out the other two. He slashed two others next to him, threw his swords up, and picked his other two out of the soldiers. He continued to juggle his swords around as he killed the soldiers around his with ease. Devon was having trouble though. He slashed through many soldiers, but then one from behind shot an arrow from his crossbow. Though Devon saw it, he was barely able to dodge it, and it pierced through his right shoulder. He grunted in pain, but was still able to pull out a small knife and throw it at the soldier. He pulled the arrow out of his shoulder and continued to fight. When he looked over to see how the others were doing, he saw them pressed back to back in a big circle of soldiers.

"I hope you remember the move I designed for situations like these." Lunar whispered.

"How could I forget?" Caleb said, not able to hide the smirk on his face.

"Ready?" Lunar asked, and with a nod from Caleb he shouted, "GO!"

Caleb jumped up into the air above the circle of soldiers as soon as he heard that word. This distracted the soldiers and gave Lunar a chance. He stabbed his crystal sword into the ground, and put his hands on the hilt. He then turned completely horizontal and spun around, knocking all the soldiers in the circle down with his feet. Caleb landed next to him and Lunar pulled his sword up. He swung his sword up over his back and put it back into the black cloth. He and Caleb had cleared the forces on their side, and looked over to see how Devon was doing. He was covered in wounds, and struggling with the enemy commander. He pulled out two knives and threw them at him, though they were easily deflected by his gigantic shield. He then took a thrust with the ten-foot lance he held in his right hand. Devon jumped up, but it still caught his leg, and he fell to the ground, holding his leg to try to stop the bleeding. The commander stood over Devon, taking a second to enjoy his triumph. As he was swinging his lance down to deliver the final blow, and arrow pierced his right shoulder, causing him to drop his lance. Both the commander, and Devon, who was still on the ground, looked at where the arrow came from, and they saw Lunar holding a crossbow in his hand.

_ Phew, _Devon thought to himself, _I thought I was a goner…_

Lunar tossed the crossbow on the ground and ran at the commander. The commander quickly picked up his lance to attack Lunar, but it was too late. Lunar jumped up and kicked both of the commander's arms. He dropped his lance and shield, and by that time it was over for him. Lunar landed and kicked the commander up, jumped above him, and kicked him back down on to the ground, forming a small crater where he landed. Lunar the pulled out his crystal sword, pointed it down, and stabbed through the commander as he landed.

"It's over." Caleb said, as he walked over to where Lunar was standing. He looked at Devon, and helped him up, "We'll need to help you train, Devon. These guys were small fries, and if we are to fight any stronger units, I can't guarantee that you'll survive."

"He's right." Lunar said as he put his sword back into his sheath and put his cloak back on. "But who were those soldiers and why were they attacking us?"

"Their armor," Caleb said, with a sudden realization, "It 's of Khronya. These must be King Toburio's forces."

"But why would they be attacking us?" Devon asked, standing up.

"I don't know, but I need to check something." Caleb said, and began walking in the direction the soldiers came, and beckoned to Devon and Lunar.

They walked for a few minutes, and found the ruins of a building.

"It's as I feared." Caleb said.

"What?" The other two asked simultaneously.

"This is my storage building for materials and extra boar meat. I carry many weapons and ammo here as well. They must have taken it all."

"Yes, but still, why did King Toburio send his forces to ransack your storage area?" Lunar asked, still confused.

"I don't know," Caleb responded, "but there is a small town by the name of Yutoma just south of here. There is an abandoned warehouse there and we can stay there tonight. We can head to Castle Khronya from there.


	8. Provacation

They walked for miles. On the way, Caleb helped Devon train when they took breaks to rest. They reached Yutoma as the sun was setting. As promised, there was a warehouse for them to stay in for the night.

"I guess that'll do for now," Caleb said as he finished with Devon.

They entered the warehouse.

"Aww… why are we staying here?" Lunar said, looking around in disappointment.

"What, did you think we'd be staying in a five-star hotel?" Caleb said, in a mocking tone, "It isn't much, but we'll only be staying here for one night. You'll just have to live with it…"

Considering the situation we're in, shouldn't we have someone keep watch?" Devon asked, thinking ahead.

"Right," Lunar said with a sigh, "I guess I'll take first watch."

Devon and Caleb fell asleep, and Lunar kept watch by the door. A few hours after they fell asleep, Lunar hear a commotion going on outside. He decided to go check it out.

When he went outside he let out a big sigh, "Not again." He saw a bunch of Khronyan soldiers going into houses and taking their supplies.

"Citizens of Yutoma!" A soldier shouted, and from the crest on his helmet, Lunar could tell that he was of high authority, something about it seemed vaguely familiar though. Lunar "Submit all of your weapons and food to us! The fate of your country depends on it. You alone can help us, would you really want to disobey your kingdom?"

Lunar went back into the warehouse and awoke Caleb and Devon. "Guy's, we've got more soldiers."

The two rose up and grabbed their weapons. "It seems like we've done this before, don't you think?" Devon proclaimed.

"It doesn't matter," Caleb said, seriously, "we've got to stop them."

They walked out the door and stood before the soldiers.

"Leave these citizens alone!" Devon shouted.

"Hey, if it isn't the three people we fought in the forest!" the soldier said with a smile.

"Wha-"

"Hmph, you thought you killed all of us?" the solder said, "Some of us managed to escape and warn the others."

"Damn." Lunar cursed under his breath, "Now they know our abilities.

"Send some messengers," the soldier said to some of the soldiers next to him, "tell them that the forces we encountered in the Boar Forest are still standing up to us."

"Very well." A soldier said and took a group of 5 and retreated.

"Now for you…" He said and turned to the three before him. _This isn't good. If they are here, that means that they were able to finish off the forces that were left, even the commander. They don't even look that exhausted, or hurt. Just who are these people? _He shook his head and raised his lance at the group before him.

"Fool," Caleb said, "Did you forget that your forces were completely wiped out at that battle?"

Not needing to be reminded the soldier yelled, "ATTACK!"

The fighting commenced. Devon began by pulling out his golden knives and connecting them. The flash of light stunned the soldiers in front of him, and they looked back to see his long double-sided trident. Two soldiers lunged at him. He twisted it around and broke both of them, then stabbed one, and then the other. He stuck his trident in he ground next to him and then pulled out six knives, held them in between his fingers and threw them at the soldiers in front of him. A soldier tried to sneak up on him from behind, but Devon sensed him, and did a back flip over him and threw his trident down, impaling the soldier. Meanwhile, Lunar had been using his double-sided swords to fight the soldiers. He slashed through one soldier after another, able to cover himself from behind as well. One soldier he was fighting tried to run away, but Lunar was able to catch up to him. However, the soldier wasn't trying to run away. It was a trap. When Lunar looked around, he was in front of a large cliff face. On the cliff face were around one hundred soldiers with crossbows pointed right at him.

Lunar sighed, "I guess I've gotta work hard in this battle… They must have expected us to destroy them, so they tried to play it dirty, eh?" He connected the hilts of his two double-sided swords to form one big fan-like, four-sided sword.

"FIRE!" one of the soldiers yelled and Lunar saw a barrage of arrows coming at him.

Lunar began to spin his four-sided sword in front of him, deflecting all the arrows coming at him. Stunned, the soldiers tried to load another round of arrows, but Lunar was too fast. He disconnected his sword, back to the two two-sided swords. He then threw them both like flying discs at the soldiers, felling them all.

Caleb, however, had gone for the lead soldier right from the start. "Think you can survive this battle too?" he shouted as he swung at the soldier.

The soldier continued to back up after each attack. "Of course." he said, calmly "I will defeat you and your partners."

Caleb raised his axe above his head, and as he was about to swing down on the soldier, an arrow was shot through his chest.

He fell to the ground before the soldier, dropping his axe as well.

"You fool." The soldier said, triumphant, "I told you we would defeat you." The soldier then backed away and retreated in the direction of the castle.

"Damn coward." Caleb said. "Let another soldier-" he coughed "-save you life, and then you-" coughing again "-run away."

Caleb looked back at the soldier who had shot him. He was standing over him with a crossbow in his hand, pointed at him. The crossbow was shaking in his hand, and Caleb could see he was afraid of him.

Then a sword pierced through his chest, and Lunar leaned over his shoulder, "How do you like being stabbed from behind, huh?" he whispered as he forced the soldier's already lifeless body on to the ground. He turned to Caleb and helped him up, supporting him with his shoulder. "What happened?" he asked, "You never get distracted like that."

"I don't know." Caleb said with a grunt, "It's just, something about that soldier, it just filled me with hate and rage. I couldn't control myself, and the next thing I knew, I had an arrow through my chest. But what about the rest of the forces?"

"Oh, Devon and I took care of them. They weren't that difficult."

Lunar took Caleb to the local doctor, with the help of Devon. Luckily, the doctor had enough herbs and equipment to remove the arrow, heal Caleb, and bandage him up.

"Thanks doc." Lunar said while Caleb was resting.

"Oh no problem," the doctor said, "anytime for the people who saved our village."

The three of them went back to the warehouse and slept, as it was only around midnight. Caleb remained resting as they carried him there, still exhausted from the battle. Devon let Lunar rest and kept watch for the rest of the night.

Meanwhile…

"What?" the soldier was astounded. "Why are you following us?" He was confused as he saw the very soldier who had sent him to warn the king was standing before him."

"I just came here to tell you that your services… are no longer needed."

"What does that mean?" another soldier asked.

"I'll show you." He said and put his hand forward at the soldiers and they saw a small glimmering object in his hand.

"Wh-" was all the other soldiers could manage before they burst into flames. Their corpses fell to the ground and turned to ash.

"I have my own business with the king." he said.


	9. A God

They headed east, off Castle Khronya.

"I still can't believe…" Caleb whispered to himself "Toburio would… Why? I thought we…"

"Huh?" Devon said, noticing Caleb whispering, "What did you say?"

"Oh nothing!" Caleb said, getting defensive.

"Hmmm." Lunar said, looking forward, away from Devon and Caleb, "I find that tough to believe Caleb."

"No really." Caleb said, "It's nothing."

"Okay…" Lunar said in a mocking tone, "Whatever you say."

They walked for miles, and eventually reached the castle.

As they approached Devon noticed something. "Hey, that's weird." He said.

"What is 'that'?" Lunar asked, looking at the castle again.

"There aren't any guards at the gates."

"Hmmm… I guess. I hope nothing bad is going on." Lunar said.

"We've got to hurry." Caleb quickly said, "Who knows what is going on in there?"

They began to run towards the castle. They crossed the bridge over the moat, and weren't even slowed down as they broke through the gate. They continued to run through the castle toward the throne room. Not once during their run through the castle did they see a guard, worker, or any person whatsoever. They finally reached the throne room, and stopped for a moment.

"Not even here." Caleb said, noticing the lack of guards. "Let's go." They burst through the door. When Caleb looked into the room, he was shocked. "NO!" he shouted. "It… it can't be… Toburio."

"That's just… cruel." Lunar said, disgusted.

What they saw before them was a scary sight. Toburio was leaned back in his throne; a knife plunged into his jugular.

"Heh, heh, heh…" a voice echoed through the room.

"That voice…" Caleb said.

"Surprised?" The owner of the voice said as he stepped out from behind the throne.

"YOU!" Caleb shouted. "I knew Toburio would never command his soldiers to ransack villages."

"Oh, he made all those decisions on his own." The man said." With a little… help…" the man said with a grin as he rose a small red crystal pendant, clearly used for hypnosis.

Caleb went to run forward and attack him, but Lunar grabbed his shoulder through his cloak and shoved him back into the wall. The person they saw before them was the same they saw in Yutoma. The crest, the voice, everything was the same. He took his helmet off, revealing his face. He had dyed blood-red hair that was straight and down to his shoulders. His eyes were horrific. Where whites usually would have been, was all black. His pupils were bright red. A closer look at him showed that he was not wearing the same armor from before, with the exception of the helmet he tossed away. It was a full double-breasted suit of armor; with spikes all down his spine, arms, and legs.

"Who the hell are you?" Devon asked, more rather, commanded.

"Excuse me," the man said, "I forgot to properly introduce myself. My name… is Anx."

This drew an outburst from Lunar. He jumped forward, wasting no time in taking off his cloak and pulling out his sword. He slashed at Anx, but he pulled out a small blade and blocked it.

"L-" Anx was about to say something, but Lunar swung his sword, causing Anx to be pushed backward.

"Do you really think you can defeat me?" Anx said.

He then raised his hand at Lunar. Again, holding his red crystal in his hand, he cast a spell. A small flare, thin as a wire, shot forward at him. Had Lunar been inexperienced, he would never have seen this, but he was able to react and use his sword to block. A wall of fire hit his sword and flowed past him, cut in half by his sword.

"Impressive," Anx said, "but do you really think that you can defeat me? You should very well know by now, _Lunar_."

With another incantation, he raised a red sphere of light in his hand, and then closed it, his fist illuminated with red light. He then rushed forward, punching Lunar in the gut with his illuminated hand. Lunar went flying, back into the wall, through that, and stopped at the next wall, forming a crater in it. All of the sudden Caleb's axe burst through the wall to the left Anx's, spinning, and headed straight for him. He raised his hand and stopped the axe, while it was still spinning, and once it had stopped, it fell to the ground.

_Impossible. _Caleb thought. _He was able to completely stop my axe while it was spinning, and didn't even move an inch. _

Awoken from his thought, Caleb felt a burning pain in his chest, and looked down to see that Anx was choking him. Caleb tried to reach up and release Anx's grip, but he couldn't. Anx then threw him down on to the ground. It was over for Devon as soon as Anx looked at him. Devon felt a strong force pushing against him, and he was thrown back. Anx didn't even move, yet Devon was on the ground in pain.

"Just what are you?" Devon managed to say.

"What am I?" Anx replied, "I am a _god_."

Those were the last words Devon heard and then he was unconscious.


	10. Flee

When Devon awoke he was bewildered. He had no idea what happened to him. One minute Anx was choking Caleb, and then he was knocked on the ground; Anx standing over him. He tried to remember what Anx had said then. It was something important, but he could not remember.

_Think, Devon, think! You've got to remember what he said. Think, THINK! _Devon furiously racked his brain, and finally remembered what he said. _Ah! I remember now! Something about him being a god…_

"_Just what are you?_

"_What am I? I am a _god_."_

_But what did he mean by that? There's no way he's actually a god. Gah! I don't know!_

Back to reality, Devon looked around. Caleb was unconscious on the ground, and from the looks of the pool of blood his head was in, it looked like he had been coughing up blood. He looked over and saw Lunar still stuck in the crater in the wall. His armor was shattered, and blood was trickling down his throat and down his chest, dripping on the floor when it reached the end of his body. Devon stood up to go help them, but he fell back down. He had just noticed the piercing pain in his leg. He looked down and saw that his leg was twisted the wrong way. He also noticed he was having trouble just breathing.

"!" he shouted and collapsed, resting until he could move again.

Caleb was the first one to get up. This was after hours of lying on the ground, defeated by Anx.

He went over to Devon and helped him up, noticing his broken leg. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Fine, but I doubt I'll be able to walk…" he said, looking at his leg.

"Damn, we can't stay here much longer. I don't know why Anx left us here, but he could come back any minute." Caleb pondered what to do for a few minutes. "Ah, I have an idea!" he walked over to the wall, and ripped out some pieces of stone. He let out a big cough, and then continued his work. After a while, he had constructed a pair of makeshift crutches for Devon. "There. That should do for now."

"Thanks," Devon said, taking the crutches and getting used to walking on them, "that will help a lot."

Caleb then went over to Lunar. His condition was the worst of them. His armor had been completely blown off, and his ribcage had been shattered. There were many cuts on his chest, and blood was dripping from his throat to his chest. Both of his arms and legs were broken, as well as his neck.

"We can't wait for him to wake up, I'll just have to carry him." Caleb said, worried.

"Don't strain yourself." Devon said, "Remember, you're injured too."

"We don't have time to worry about me!" Caleb said, almost angry.

They departed from the castle, going as fast as they could the whole way, not stopping, despite the fact that they were in a less than desirable situation. Devon struggled to keep up on his crutches, but he made a valiant effort to keep going. They ran to the southeastern coast, and to the Rotodor Islands. Since Anx had control of Khronya, then the only places to go would be Glacia, or the Rotodor Islands. Glacia was impossible though, since they wouldn't be able to climb the Divergent Mountains in their condition. Their only option was the Rotodor Islands, a nation developed from a rebellion against the Khronyan government. Eventually they reached the southeastern coast of Khronya. They took a boat to the main island of the Rotodor Islands. On the boat ride, Lunar finally came to.

"Wha-…" Lunar managed to say, considering his injuries.

"Ah Lunar, you're awake." Caleb said. He coughed violently, "We're on a boat going to the Rotodor Islands. Don't speak too much, you ribcage is broken, as well as your neck, arms, and legs. Just rest for now."

They continued to ride, eventually reaching the northern coast of the main Rotodor Island. They were able to scrounge for some sticks and other materials, and eventually were able to set up a tent and fire.

"Tomorrow we should probably head out to Hextine." Devon said.

"No!" Caleb said quickly, "Errr… we can't go there."

"Why not?" Devon asked, surprised.

"We just can't." Caleb said, ending the conversation. "Just, get some sleep, I'll keep watch."


	11. Judgment

Lunar awoke late in the night. His legs and arms had recovered a little bit, but he still had trouble getting up. He struggled over to where Caleb was sitting outside the tent.

"Lunar!" he said, surprised, "You shouldn't be walking around! You're severely injured!"

"Don't worry." Lunar said with a grunt as he sat down next to him. "I'm a fast healer."

"If you say so."

"So," Lunar began to say, "What has been with you lately?"

"What do you mean?" Caleb said, confused.

"I mean that when we went to see Toburio you were acting all strange, and you were very upset when you say him dead. And

then you said we couldn't go to Hextine. You have explaining to do."

Caleb let out a heavy sigh, "I guess it's time I'll tell you." Caleb paused for a minute, thinking about what he would say next. "Well you see, as I child, I never knew my parents. The only thing I remember is growing up in Hextine with a family that found me in the outskirts of Hextine. When I was ten, my true father came to claim me. He was no other than… King Toburio." As Caleb said this, Lunar became increasingly shocked. "Since the Rotodor Islands' civilizations were built from their rebellion of the Khronyan government, nobody in Hextine wanted me to stay, not even my foster family. I was still enraged from my father for leaving me, so I refused to go with him. Then, I joined Weapons Academy at age fifteen, as well as you. I kept my foster family's last name and kept my background a secret from all the others. When I turned twenty, my father finally found me. He said he wanted to explain why he left me in the Rotodor Islands, but I wouldn't listen. I… I left." Caleb said, tears welling up in his eyes. "I left Weapons Academy, and went to the Boar Forest. You were the only person I told that I was going there, since you were the only one I could trust. And now, Toburio is dead, and, I will never know why he left me."

"I'm so sorry." Lunar said, "All these years, and I never knew."

"It's okay." Caleb said, looking off into the distance, "I just wish I knew why he left me."

"Don't worry," Lunar said, "you may be able to find out in the end."

Devon, who was awake at this time, was listening to the whole thing while inside the tents.

_These two, _he thought, _their connection is deep. It is deeper than just friendship. It seems that they would be inseparable in the end, no matter what. _


	12. Face Them

Lunar went back to sleep after their conversation. He and Devon awoke late in the morning, tired from the recent events.

"Lunar!" Caleb said, noticing Lunar walking, "You can't be up and walking around so soon!"

"Don't worry," Lunar said, "I told you I'm a fast healer. We should probably head out to Hextine today."

"I told you that we couldn't go there." Caleb said, looking sad.

"I know it's difficult, but you need to face them. You can't live the rest of you life in fear of them."

"I told you we-"

"I don't care!" Lunar shouted, "We're severely injured, and that's our only option!"

"Fine, but I'm not sure we'll be accepted so easily."

The three departed for Hextine. They walked until sundown, frequently taking breaks, and eventually reached their destination.

"Well, this is it." Caleb said in anticipation.

"Are you ready?" Lunar said, and with a nod from Caleb, walked into the town.

The guards spotted them as they walked in. "Hey, you there!" one said. "We need your names before you enter."

"Lunar Sol."

"Devon Nessin"

Caleb hesitated for a minute then finally answered. "Caleb… Voltair."

"YOU?" The soldier shouted. "You're not allowed here!"

Lunar's cloak flew off and he held one of his katanas at the soldier's neck.

"If I were you, I'd be quiet about now. Now here's what will happen next." Lunar said. "You're gonna let us in, and get us a good doctor. Also, you're gonna end Caleb's exile, you got that?"

"But, he's Toburi-"

Lunar stabbed into the soldier's foot. "I _said _you got that?"

"Yes, yes, yes! I understand!" The soldier ran off.

Shortly they met with a doctor and were able to get healed. Caleb still had a little trouble breathing, and Devon was barely able to stand up. Lunar had almost completely healed by then though. They took time to rest in the village that night. Caleb could rest easy now that he was accepted in Hextine.

They woke up and Caleb went to meet with the town's king. They needed to explain a lot.

"We need to talk." Caleb said as he entered the king's home with Devon and Lunar.

"Caleb," the king said as he noticed Caleb walking in, "It's been so long."

"I know," Caleb said, sitting down, "but that's not what I came here for. I need to talk to you about Anx."

"What about him?" the king asked, "Is he posing to actually be a threat?"

"It's worse than that." Caleb said, putting fear into the king, "He's more than just a threat. We confronted him in Toburio's castle. When we got there, we had found that Toburio was dead, and Anx was there as well. We tried to confront him, but we were no match for him. He defeated us with little effort. I don't know why he didn't kill us, but we were lucky to escape. Now we are here with our injuries. You need to be aware that he can strike at any time, and with Eternity's Comet passing in only a year…"

"I understand." The king said, "We'll have to strengthen our army."

"Be warned." Caleb said and began to walk out the door, "We'll be going then."


	13. Mountainous Journey

They left the town, and headed back for the northern coast of the Rotodor Islands. They took a boat back into Khronya. On the way there, they discussed their strategy. They would need to cross the Divergent Mountains, and into Glacia. They would then need to head to Castle Glacia, and warn King Glacuis about Anx. After that, they would go to the Storm Circle where they would spend the rest of the time until the comet passes training. After that, they would have to confront Anx, and defeat him.

After they arrived, they put their plan into action. They headed towards the mountains and eventually reached to southern end of them.

"I don't think we should cross the mountains here." Lunar said.

"Huh?" Devon said. "Why not?"

"Crossing the mountains all at once would be impossible for us. We do not have enough provisions to make it over. Luckily, there is a small mountain village in the middle of them to the north. They don't accept many outsiders, but I grew up there, so they should probably accept us."

"Okay," Devon said, "Sounds like a plan."

They headed north, hugging the mountains as they went. It took them two days to actually get to the area to cross. They had bought everything they needed from the nearest town, and stood at the base of the mountain range before them.

"Well," Lunar said, "are you two ready? This won't be easy you know."

"It's the only way…" Caleb said, looking away.

"I'm willing to do anything to stop Anx." Devon said, in anger.

"I guess it's decided." Lunar said, "Oh dear."

They began to walk towards the mountain. From the slits in the ground behind where Lunar walked, Devon could tell that Lunar was using one of his katanas as a walking stick. Devon thought it was a good idea, and picked up a large stick, broke it in accordance to his height, and began to use it. Noticing this, Lunar smiled to himself under his hood. They continued walking up the mountain for a few hours, and then reached the top of that mountain in the middle of the afternoon. They looked at the expanse of mountains before them. There were many mountains, both big and small in front of them. About five of them were of a big enough size to take a while to climb up. Blocking almost all sign of anything past the range was a huge mountain about twice the size they just climbed up.

"This won't be easy." Caleb said, panting from the walk up.

"If I remember correctly," Lunar said, "Sotachi is just beyond that big mountain."

"No use waiting here." Devon said, "We'll never get there if we stand here."

"You're right." Lunar said and they continued walking.

They walked for a few days after that. They finally reached the base of the big mountain after four days of walking. They were exhausted and they only had enough food and water to last them one more day.

"We should hurry up this mountain." Lunar said, "I want to be at the top by tonight, and then we can head down in the morning. Are you okay with that?"

"If that's what's best." Devon said.

"Jeez," Caleb said, "you sure don't make things easy, do you Lunar? I guess it can't be helped though."

"No it can't," Lunar said, "Now let's go."

They began to walk up the mountain. They slowly made progress up, but they were determined to make it up to the top before the morning. There seemed to be no end in sight for the group.

"Gah…" Devon said, out of breath, "How much father can this mountain be?"

"I'm not sure." Lunar said, "It doesn't matter though, we've got to persevere through this, no matter what."

"Ugh." Devon sighed, "Fine."

They continued to walk up the mountain. Devon's walking stick had wilted down on the bottom tip of it. He had still got a lot out of it as the journeyed across the mountains. Eventually the top of the mountain was in sight.

"Hey, we're almost there!" Devon shouted and ran up the mountain.

"Finally," Caleb said, "an end in sight."

Devon continued to run up the mountain. To his dismay, near the top was a pack of mountain lions. Unluckily for Devon, these lions were hungry, and they had just found their food.

"Crap!" he said and began to run down towards Caleb and Lunar. The mountain lions let out a giant roar and chased after him. "Guys, we've got company!" Devon said.

"What is he doing?" Caleb said and then saw the lions chasing him.

"Oh dear." Lunar said, "There he goes."

Lunar let his cloak fly off and pulled two of his katanas out. Caleb swung his axe forward off his shoulder.

"And here I thought we were done with these mountains…" Caleb said, "It looks like we've got a little more to do here."

They rushed forward at the lions. Caleb took a wide swing and took out a line of the lions. One jumped above him to attack, but he put his hands on the ground and used his feet to throw the lion over him as he did a flip. The lion fell all the way down the mountain. As Caleb watched the lion fall, another tried to jump on him from behind. As it was about to hit him, Lunar came from the side and tore the lion in half.

"Heh, you should watch your back more." Lunar said, his tone not even sounding serious.

"Thanks Lunar." Caleb said and attacked some more lions.

Meanwhile, Devon had disappeared. Neither Lunar nor Caleb could find him. Just when they became worried, a lion near them dropped dead, and Caleb looked over to see a knife in its neck.

"Ah…" Lunar said with a sigh of relief. "He's fine."

"No time to worry about him," Caleb said, "We have a fight to focus on."

"Yeah, yeah." Lunar said with a heavy sigh.

They continued to kill lions, with the occasional knives flying at lions near them. Eventually they cleared the pack of lions.

"Phew," Devon said, hopping down out of a nearby tree, "we finally took care of them." He looked around at the pile of bodies around them. "But where did all these lions come from?"

"I'm not sure." But just as Caleb something caught his eye. He turned his head, "No…" he said. He saw a pack of lions, at least a thousand of them, at the base of the mountain charging up at them. "RUN!" he yelled, "We've gotta get over the mountain quick!"

They began to run up the mountain, with the lions quickly approaching them. Caleb then sung his axe, cutting a big tree out of the ground. He then hit it up, and sliced it into three long boards of wood. He threw two of them over to Devon and Lunar.

"Ride these down the mountain, we don't have time to run!"

They still had a while to go up the mountain though, and the lions were gaining fast. Just as the lions were about to catch them, they reached the top and jumped off, heading down the mountain this time. With the boards of wood, they were able to keep pace with the lions, and escape them.

"We can't let them follow us into Sotcahi!" Lunar shouted, "We need to finish them off, now!"

"I know!" Caleb shouted, "LET'S GO!"

Caleb let out his axe blade out on its chain, and took down a row of lions. Devon then jump up and did a flip, with the board still on his feet. As he was upside-down, he pulled out about ten knives and threw them at the lions. They collapsed, momentarily slowing down the pack running at them. Lunar turned around on his board, so that he was riding backwards down the mountain. He then swung his sword in a long, horizontal arc, and a row of crystals shot out, felling the lions before them.

"Here!" Lunar shouted, and he swung his sword, creating a large crystal wall to stop the lions momentarily.

"Good." Caleb said, "That should hold them for a while."

After they broke through the wall, Caleb estimated that only about a hundred were left. Lunar jumped up, and stood in the middle of the pack, and shot a row of crystals right forward through the pack. After that, there were only a few lions left. Devon and Caleb were able to finish them off with ease. After they had finished off the lions, they headed to Sotachi, which was only about a mile away.


	14. Distant Memories

They walked into Sotachi, and looked around. It was an old village, many of the houses ramshackle and wooden. Immediately Lunar was recognized. The first person to come up to him was a short old man, walking with a cane. His eyes were squinted and he was bald.

"Lunar?" the old man stuttered, "Is that you?"

"Grandpa!" Lunar shouted, in surprise to see this man. He took off his cloak and rushed to see the man, and gave him a big hug. "Gee, it's been years hasn't it?"

"Just over seven, if my old mind can remember." They both replied with a laugh. "So what brings you here?"

"We're just passing through, heading to Glacia."

"Oh, what makes you want to go to Glacia? Is anything bad going on?"

Lunar sighed "You really are isolated here aren't you?" another sigh, "It's Anx… He's trying to destroy the Shockwave."

"Ah… Your-"

"No. Not anymore."

The old man sighed, "Very well then."

Lunar noticed Devon and Caleb being left out of the conversation. "Oh, I forgot to introduce you two. This is my grandpa, Samuel." He then turned to Samuel, "Grandpa, these are my friends Devon and Caleb." motioning to the corresponding people.

"Very nice to meet you." Samuel said, "I'm Lunar's grandfather, and guardian as well."

"Guardian? What about your parents?" Devon asked.

Lunar's face turned into a frown at this. "My parent's died when I was a child so I was left here with my grandpa to protect me, okay?" He stormed off.

"Jeez." Devon asked, "I only wanted to know."

"Don't worry." Samuel said, "It's a tender subject, and he often gets mad at it."

"We should go to him." Caleb said.

They went over to Samuel's house, to find Lunar inside. He was at the table, with his head in his arms.

"I'll leave you three alone." Samuel said, and went out.

Devon walked over to the table and sat down. "Look, Lunar." He said. "I didn't mean to hurt you, I'm really sorry."

Lunar rose his head up out of his arms. He wiped tears from his eyes. "Don't worry." he said, "I'm just a wimp who can't deal with his parents dying."

Caleb came over and then sat down. "No, your not." He said, "How do you think I felt when I saw Toburio dead?"

"It's not the same." Lunar said, almost shouting. "My parent's died when I was only five, and I ran away from them. I was helpless as they were being slaughtered."

"No, it's not." Caleb said. "I don't care what you think, but we don't think any less of you."

"Thanks." Lunar said. "I'm sorry. Let's just… go."

"Where to next?" Caleb said.

"There's an old friend of mine I want to see again."

"Okay, lead the way."

They walked through the town. Lunar reminisced on distant memories with each house he passed.

Before they found this "friend," they stopped at the market in town to purchase some more provisions, as they only had scraps left.

"No way!" they heard a girl shout.

Lunar turned to the sound and smiled at the girl running towards him.

"Lunar!" she yelled, and gave him a big hug. "You're here! She looked deep into his emerald eyes, "I missed you."

Devon and Caleb looked at the girl who suddenly burst into their company. In comparison, she was much shorter than Lunar was. She had short, dirty blond colored hair, and she had beautiful purple eyes.

She turned to Devon and Caleb, "These are you friends?" and then gave Lunar another smiling glance.

"Yep," he said, "this is Caleb," motioning to him, "and this is Devon. Devon, Caleb, this is my childhood friend, Tara Sotaro."

"Great to meet you." Caleb said.

"What are you doing here anyway?" she said, and turned back to Lunar.

"We're heading to Glacia," Lunar said, "We need to go to the training ground that we found a few years back. You remember right?"

"Of course!" She said, "I love that place! I remember the fun we had there…"

Lunar laughed, "Yeah, I miss those days…"

"So why are you going there anyway?"

Lunar sighed, "It's Anx. He's too powerful, and we need to train."

"Oh…" she said, "Then would you mind if I came along with you three? I could help you defeat Anx."

"I'm sorry Tara, I can't put you in that kind of danger. He's too powerful, I just won't be able to go on if you died because of me."

"Oh…" she crossed her arm and began to pout. "Okay then…"

Lunar leaned in and kissed her. After a few seconds he broke the kiss, and looked deep into her eyes.

"Be good." he said, "We'll be staying here for the night, but in the morning we'll have to leave. I'll say goodbye to you tomorrow morning."

They walked around, greeting many people who remembered Lunar living in Sotachi, which seemed like everyone.

After they finally had walked all around the village, it was getting late, so they headed back to Samuel's place.

The three went into Samuel's house.

"Oh hello Lunar." Samuel said, who was sitting at his kitchen table, as Lunar entered.

"Hey grandpa." he said, "I hope you don't mind, but we need somewhere to stay, so can we stay here?"

"Of course." Samuel replied with a smile. "Anything for my grandson."

Lunar smiled. "Well I guess we'll be heading to bed then.

They slept for only a little bit, waking up early to head out and get a head start on getting to the training ground. They first had to head to Tara's house to say goodbye. Lunar took off his cloak as they walked up to her house and knocked on the door. Tara opened the door with a tired expression on her face and her nightclothes still on.

"Hey sleepyhead." Lunar said, "Good morning."

"Oh, Lunar!" she said with both excitement and fatigue.

"I hate to wake you up so early, but we are leaving now, and I promised that I would say goodbye." Lunar said.

"Oh don't worry." she said, "I'll get up any time for you."

"You still sound tired." Lunar said.

"No, it's fine." Though clearly it wasn't.

"Well, anyways," Lunar said, "we are leaving now."

Tara leaned in and kissed him. "I wish you didn't have to go."

"Neither do I." Lunar said, "It has to be done though."

"Goodbye, Lunar." Tara said, and kissed him again.

"Goodbye." Lunar said, and they parted.

Tara watched as they walked off into the distance, up the last mountain before they reached Glacian territory.


	15. Fortune

They continued up the mountain, free of any disturbances on the final part of their mountainous journey. Once they reached the top of the mountain, there was a total change in scenery.

"Wow…" Devon said I amazement, "It's snowing!"

"Heh," Lunar laughed, "I guess this is the first time you've been to Glacia."

They looked ahead at the snow-covered landscape. The snow was completely covering the ground, and it was at least a foot or two deep.

"Well," Lunar said "get ready, 'cause it's gonna get really cold after this." He threw them some jackets. "This is all we have. Use them if you want."

"But I don't understand." Devon said, "How can it be so cold here, yet not in Khronya?"

"It's because of the Storm Circle." Lunar said, "The constant tornados and blizzards that hit on the inside of the circle of mountains get projected all around Glacia, causing this climate. The mountain range protects Khronya from this weather."

"Great." Devon said, "Freezing cold during our training."

"Hey," Lunar began to say, "You can go back if you want. No one's forcing you to come with us."

"Yeah, yeah I'm coming." He said.

"Well then prepare yourself." Lunar said, turning to the snow covered ground in front of them.

They rode down the mountain in the same fashion as the last one with the boards. Once they reached the bottom they prepared for the journey, and then headed west, towards Castle Glacia.

"Man it's f-f-freezing." Devon said after a few hours of walking. "H-How do they l-l-live here?"

"Oh, shush." Lunar said not even shivering for a moment, "It's not that cold."

"W-well that's easy for you t-t-to s-say." Devon said, "You h-h-have that big c-cloak."

Lunar smiled underneath his cloak. "Well then maybe you should get one." He said and looked back at Devon, with a smirk on his face.

"Shut up." Devon said, and was quiet for the rest of the trip to Castle Glacia.

They finally reached Castle Glacia just before the sun had set. It was a big, ornate building, painted snow white, and as covered with snow as well. It was hard to tell if the icicles on the sides of the castle were real, or for decoration. They looked exactly like icicles, but they were so ornate and perfect.

"Wow!" Devon said, "This castle is much better than Toburio's! That was just a plain gray castle. This is much prettier!"

"Well, you forgot that there was a crisis going on in Khronya." Caleb said.

"I guess you're right."

They walked up to the castle's gate. They were met by a few guards who were on sentry duty for the day.

"Hey! You there!" one guard shouted and came over to stop them, "You can't enter the castle!"

"We have urgent business with the king." Lunar said, "It can't wait."

"You don't have permission, so you'll just have to wait."

"Okay then, so when is the soonest time we can get permission to meet the king?"

"The day after tomorrow."

"The day after tomorrow? We need to speak to the king immediately!"

"I don't care how urgent it is, you'll just have to wait."

"Come on Lunar," Caleb said, "We won't change anything by arguing here."

"Oh fine." Lunar said and they walked away from the castle.

"So what do we do now?" Devon asked as they left.

"Well," Caleb said, "we might as well stay in the surrounding city around the castle. There's lots of stuff to do, so I think we'll be fine for a few days."

"Well it's settled then." Lunar said, "We'll stay here."

They entered the city, and were immediately surprised. It was night, so all the lights for the buildings were on.

"Wow!" Devon said, "I've never been to a city before! It's so big, and all these lights are amazing!"

"It its, isn't it?" Caleb said, looking around. "There are only three or four cities like this in all of Galaxia."

"So where to first?" Devon said.

"Follow me." Lunar said, walking into the center of the city. "We need to find a hotel for the night."

They walked around, and then Lunar led them to an especially large building.

"Whoa!" Devon said, "This is where we're staying? It's by far the biggest building in this place!"

"Lunar, this hotel is very expensive, how do you plan on paying for this?" Caleb said.

"Oh don't worry." Lunar said, "I've got it covered."

They walked in to the hotel. Even the lobby was grand and beautiful. They walked up to the counter to check in.

"How can I help you?" the woman at the counter said in a cheerful tone.

"I'd like the best villa for three that you have." Lunar said.

"Lunar?" Caleb and Devon both said in astonishment.

"Don't worry." Lunar said.

"Okay then," the woman said, "That'll be ten-thousand gold for the night."

"Very well." Lunar said.

His arm came out of his sleeve, carrying ten gold coins in his hand. Devon looked closer and saw that each of them had the number one thousand on them.

"Wow!" the woman exclaimed, in a still cheerful tone, "We don't see many people with thousand gold coins here! In fact, many don't even have the coins to pay for it, many just charge us."

"Lunar, how did you get so much money?" Caleb said.

"I'll explain later." Lunar said.

"Here's your room key. Have a great stay with us!" the woman said cheerfully.

They went up the stairs, and eventually reached their room on the top floor.

They entered their room, and it was amazing. For starters, it was huge. The place was filled with tons of comforts, a supply closet full of food, and many other luxuries. They pulled out the curtains, and they saw the whole city from out the windows. In their rooms they had gigantic beds for each of them.

"Ok." Caleb said, "Now that we're all situated, we need to talk. How did you get all that money?"

Lunar sighed, "It was my grandpa. He had to give me his money. Stubborn old geezer." Lunar muttered under his breath.

"But, how did he get so much money?" Caleb asked.

"To hell do I know." Lunar said, "But he sure has a hell of a lot of money."

Lunar's hand came out of his sleeve carrying a sack of one thousand gold coins.

"Whoa!" Devon said, "How much is in there?

"Well," Lunar said, "before this, it was about one hundred thousand gold in here."

"That's amazing." Caleb said, "It's beyond me how Samuel can have that much money to just give away."

"Well," Lunar said with a yawn, "It's getting late. We should go to bed."

"Okay." The other two said and they went to their rooms. It was the most comfortable sleep they had had for weeks.

They awoke in the morning, fully rested. Devon walked in to the main room to see Lunar on the couch already.

"Good morning." Lunar said.

"Good morning" Devon said, in a less energetic tone. "Where's Caleb?"

"He's getting ready." Lunar said. "I suggest that you do as well."

"Okay." Devon said.

They got all ready and then headed out into the city. It wasn't as bright and exciting as the day, but there were still things for entertainment. They walked around, going in and out of buildings, all day. One building was especially notable though. It was small and the sign on it said "Madame Isabelle's Fortune Telling Service." They entered the aforementioned building. It was decorated with beads and other interesting "magical" items.

"This place is weird." Devon said, "Why are we here anyway?"

"We've got time to kill, so we decided to check this place out." Lunar said, "It's as simple as that."

"Okay then." Devon said.

"May I help you with something?" a young woman said as she emerged from behind a curtain. "I am Madame Isabelle, would you like your fortune told?" she was dressed in a long black dress and headdress, with lots of interesting jewelry.

"Please." Caleb said and handed her some money,

"Here, sit." She said and motioned to a small table. "Put your hands face down on the table."

Caleb did as told and, after preparation, Madame Isabelle came and sat at the other end of the table. She put her palms on top of Caleb's hands and closed her eyes. Caleb waited for her to say something, but she did not.

After a few minutes, she began to speak; yet her eyes were still closed. "You're future… is difficult to read." She said, "It is clouded with bloodshed. I see a death in the near future. I see a betrayal among you, and a new friend as well. But in the end… I see a small glimmer of hope." After she had finished speaking she opened her eyes.

"Thank you." Caleb said.

"Would anyone else like their fortune told?" Madame Isabelle asked.

"No thank you." Lunar said, and they walked out the door.

"Well that was morbid." Devon said.

"Don't worry." Lunar said, "They're all fakes anyway."

Caleb didn't say much after this.


	16. Revelation

They returned to their hotel and had another night of good sleep. After their sleep, they left back to the castle. They went up to the gate.

"We seek an audience with the king." Lunar said.

"Very well." The guard said. He lowered the gate to the castle. "You may proceed."

"Thank you very much." Lunar said and the entered the castle.

They looked around. It was even more ornate and beautiful on the inside. It was filled with portraits, antiques, silk curtains and rugs, and glass chandeliers.

"Wow… This is amazing!" Devon said looking around.

They continued to the throne room, and, after their weapons were confiscated, entered.

"Why, hello!" The old man sitting at the throne said. He had a snow-white beard, and was dressed in white robes as well. "I am King Glacius, who do I have the pleasure of addressing?"

"My name is Lunar Sol. These are my friends, Devon Nessin and Caleb… Toburio.

"Ah. You're Toburio's son." Glacius said to Caleb. "He spoke to me about you often. He regretted not being able to talk to you."

"Wait… He regretted it?" Caleb said. "You mean he actually cared about me?"

"Of course." Glacius said, "That reminds me." He motioned a guard over to him. "Get the letter." He whispered to the guard and sent him on his way.

"What was that?" Caleb said.

"You'll see in a few minutes."

"Father?" a boy's voice called out. A boy about Devon's age emerged. He had white spiky hair, and had snow white armor on, with an axe about three feet long tied to his back. "Who are these people?"

"Go back to your chambers Kayle, I'm busy right now."

"Hm. Very well." He looked at Lunar, Devon and Caleb, rolled his eyes and sneered at them.

"Please excuse my son." Glacius said. "He can be a little… arrogant."

"Don't worry." Caleb said.

A guard walked over and handed something to King Glacius.

"Caleb, here." He said, handing it to him.

Caleb looked at what he just received. I was a white envelope with the Khronyan royal seal on it, clearly addressed to Caleb.

"I received this from your father not long ago." Glacius said, "He said to give this to you if something happened to him."

Caleb opened the envelope. Inside was a piece of paper, handwritten. Caleb began to read it. It read:

Dear Caleb,

I may be dead at the time you are reading this. But dead or not, this is important. Firstly, I must say, I am sorry. I hated to leave you in Hextine, but it was something I had to do as a parent. You probably don't remember your mother. She was murdered shortly after you were born. Knowing that we were in danger, I knew I couldn't have a child around. I secretly sent you to Hextine, so nobody knew, not even you. I only had one person to watch after you. I sent one of my spies to go and live in Hextine and keep watch over you. He would report to me every month. That was the best I could do for you. When you turned ten, my spy told me that you were showing potential with weapons. I thought that I could finally take you back as a son and train you. You refused me however. As a father, this crushed me. My own son rejected me. I desperately tried to get you back, but you refused me. If I truly am dead now, my only regret in life, was that I never formally met you as a man, Caleb. But please, if I am alive, please, come back, Caleb. I miss you.

Your Father,

Toburio

Caleb was in tears after reading this letter. "This whole time." He said to himself, "I was causing him pain. He only wanted my acceptance." He read the letter over and over again.

Meanwhile, Lunar approached King Glacius. "Now for more pressing matters."

"Ah yes, Lunar was it? What business do you have here?" Glacius said.

"We need to talk about Anx. I'm sure you know by now that he has killed Toburio.

You need to be prepared; I don't doubt that he will come for you too."

"Is that what you came to me for?" Glacius said. "I already knew that!"

"No." Lunar said. "I came here to tell you… about Anx."

"What do you mean 'tell me about' him?"

"I _mean_ that we met Anx in battle. I'm here to tell you about it."

"You met Anx in battle? And survived?"

"I'm not sure why he let us live, but we stood no chance against him. Anyways, he is a very powerful warrior, even just fighting with his fists. He also carries a small red crystal pendant. We believe he was using it to hypnotize Toburio. Also, he is capable of some sort of magic. He shoots flares of fire, he can knock you down by just looking at you," Lunar shivered, "he's truly terrifying."

"Indeed." Glacius said. "Thank you, Lunar. Now off you go, I have an important meeting to go to now."

"Goodbye, King Glacius." Lunar said and bowed to him. "It was a pleasure meeting you."


	17. A New Ally

They left the castle and headed to the training ground Lunar had told them about. They had finished all their business in Glacia besides the essential training they had to do. They climbed the mountains, heading down into the training ground.

"Jeez, it's even c-c-colder than b-before." Devon said, rubbing his arms and shivering.

"I'll say it once more." Lunar said, obviously angry, "You don't have to be here. If you don't want to be here, then just leave."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." Devon said, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, what's this" Caleb said, interrupting their argument.

"What's what?" Lunar said, turning to him.

"That." Caleb said, motioning to a cave in the side of the mountain a few yards away.

"I don't know." Lunar said, "Let's go check it out."

They walked over to the cave. "I'll check." Lunar said, and he walked in. "Nothing seems to be of interest here."

But just as Lunar said that a girl dropped from above Lunar and landed behind him. She held a sword to his throat.

"Who are you? Did my father send you? I'm not going back!"

"Whoa, whoa." Caleb said, putting his hands up in front of him. "Slow down here. We don't know what you're talking about; no one sent us here.

"Oh really?" the girl said. "Then why were you looking for me?"

"We weren't looking for you!" Caleb said, getting angry with her now. "We just wanted to check out this cave."

"Oh _sure_." She said, sarcastically.

While Caleb and this girl were arguing, Lunar managed to slip his arm up to the girls arm. He took her wrist and bent it back, causing her release the sword. He then forced her down on her stomach, and put his knee on her shoulder.

"Now," Lunar said, "I'm gonna let you up, but you have to promise that you wont try anything."

"Not if you're gonna take me back _there_." She managed to say. Lunar pressed harder on her shoulder, "Okay, okay!" she shouted in pain.

Lunar let her up. He got a good look at the girl. She had long white hair, down to about her waist. Her eyes were a beautiful green color, and she was dressed in rags and ripped up clothes.

"Now," Lunar said, "You have explaining to do."

"Fine." She said, "Come with me."

Reluctantly they followed. She lit a fire in a fire pit at the back of the cave, illuminating the entire cave. Devon looked around. It was much bigger than he expected. There were lots of weapons hanging all around the cave.

"My name," the girl said, beginning to explain herself, "is Mia. Mia… Glacius."

"Whoa!" Devon said, "If you're a Glacius, then why are you here?"

"I ran away from home." Mia said, "My father doesn't care about me at all. All he cares about is my twin brother, Kayle, the heir to the throne.

"What about your mother?" Devon asked.

"My mother?" Mia laughed. "She's a joke. She only does what my father wants."

"I'm so sorry." Devon said.

"Yeah, well, it doesn't matter to me anymore. I ran away three years ago when I was sixteen. I've lived here for three years, separate from Glacia all together."

"Well." Lunar said, "We've come to the Storm Circle for training. We have to face Anx."

"Anx?" she asked.

Lunar sighed, "Anx. He's a tyrant, trying to destroy the Shockwave. He's already taken over Khronya. We have to be fully prepared."

"Oh." She said. "That's terrible."

"It's okay. No way we would lose to Anx." Lunar said, winking. "We'd better head out to train though. Time is of the essence."

"Okay." She said. "I'll be here."

They exited the cave, and continued into the Storm Circle.

"Lunar." Caleb said, looking back.

"I know." Lunar said. "Just leave it alone. There's nothing we can do. Persistent little…"

They continued to the heart of the Storm Circle. The storms were the most intense there.

"Okay!" Lunar shouted once they reached the center. He had to shout to be heard over the heavy winds. "We have ten months! We leave each other alone for the duration of those ten months! There's plenty of wildlife around here, so we should be able to fend for ourselves! After the ten months has passed, we meet here again! After that, we have one month to find and defeat Anx!"

"But Lunar!" Devon asked. "What if Anx destroys the Shockwave within those ten months?"

"Don't worry! He won't! If he destroys it before Eternity's Comet passes, then we would have time to rebuild it and hunt him down!"

"Okay! If you say so!"

"We have ten months! GO!"

They all ran in different directions, towards their own areas for training. They didn't see each other again for ten months, just as Lunar said.


	18. Separation

Devon had his training cut out for him. As the weakest member of the group, he didn't stand a chance against Anx in his current condition.

As soon as he parted from the others, he headed to find somewhere to train. He walked until he reached the edge of the Storm Circle. There was a wide circle of rocks, meeting a huge mountain, forming the Storm Circle.

"This should do." He said to himself.

He started to break the rocks in the big mountain. By the end of the day, he had a small concave shape dug into the face of the mountain. It was only about a foot deep by then.

"Man, this is harder than it looks."

He continued to work on this everyday. Not only was he digging a cave for himself, but he was also developing his strength in his knife strikes. After a week of doing this, he finally finished his cave.

"Hah. Finished." He said, sweating. "Man. I can't believe I'm sweating in these conditions. Heh, I guess it's not what I thought it would be."

He then began to train, setting up a daily routine. In the morning, he would go hunting for several hours, to set up a food supply for the rest of the day. There was plenty of game to catch for Devon. Nearby, there was a forest where he could hunt for wild boars, deer, squirrels, bears, and plenty of other game. Being as stealthy as he was, he had no problem getting all the food he wanted.

After he had hunted enough, he began his formal training. First, he would do target practice. He 'd aim for certain trees or rocks and practice throwing his knives. He'd do this until sunset. Once it was dark, Devon practiced moving around stealthily in the dark. It also gave him an opportunity to hunt more animals, without fail. During this stealth training, he also practiced close combat. He practiced with his knifes, as well as unarmed. Every other day, during the day, he'd practice using his special weapons. He would practice with the knives first, and then combined into the trident.


	19. The Time Is Now

Caleb's training was a little more relaxed than Devon's. He had spent much time training in Boar Forest, for the years he had been there.

He looked around the entire Storm Circle, and eventually found an ideal training place.

"Heh." He said, looking at forest before him. "This should do."

What he saw before him was a big forest, taking up nearly a quarter of the entire Storm Circle.

"Just like home." He said, and walked into the forest.

He continued walking until he found a densely concentrated area of trees. With his gigantic axe, he was able to cut a tree down with ease. After that, he continued to cut the tree, into individual boards. After continuously working for days, he finally finished. He had constructed a wooden hut, as well as a storage hut for his food, to stay in. He walked into his makeshift home. He looked around at the dirt floor, the fire pit in the middle of it, and the windowless walls around him.

"Cozy." He said to himself, sarcastically.

After that, he began to train.

Nostalgically, he went hunting for boars in the forest. It was widely populated with animals, boars included. He went to find boars, mainly. The boars in this forest were only twice the size of Caleb tall, and thirty feet long. He slaughtered them easily.

"Huh." He said in disgust. "Live a life in the Boar Forest. Then come and challenge me."

He continued to hunt for a week, doing nothing but that. By the end of the week, he had gotten enough food to support him for a few months.

"Well, I can't say I'll be hungry." He said.

His formal training began after that. He spent most of his time atop the trees, training with his axe. He let it loose out of his chain, and swung it around, creating a wide arc of blade, chain, and wooden handle. He screwed up on it many times, and it took him months of work and a lot of bruises until he perfected it. After he perfected it, it would, or at least he theorized that it would, be a completely perfect dome shield for him. Not a single arrow would be able to get through it. It would make a good backup move if they were ever to be in a pinch.

"Good." He said to himself, "I should show this to the other's."

He continued to work on this technique, and also training other techniques of his. Months passed, in this same cycle. He trained very much, and hunted frequently, so much as to get a surplus of food.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Storm Circle, the cloaked man was meditating with great intensity. So much spiritual aura, coursing through him, that it felt to him like the entire world was at a standstill. All he could focus on was the tiny blue flame, on the inside of his soul. It had existed for long, a tiny flame, only trying to keep alive. He had only acknowledged it recently. He spent all his time, nurturing the flame, helping it to blossom. It was now coursing through his veins, igniting his entire soul with power. Power that would, if allowed to spread even further, could give him absolute control… of the universe, and it's very laws that have come into their lives.

_The time is now._


	20. Missing

Lunar ran through the Storm Circle, looking for his two friends. He knew he had said to leave each other alone, but he felt that it was essential to get some time together to train. Nine months had passed, and since there was only a month left, he had to find them fast.

He had come upon many possible places either of them could have been training. He could tell from the set up shelter, as well as the wear from training with their weapons.

Lunar had searched the entire Storm Circle, all except for the big forest, and had found no traces of either of his friends.

"Where the hell are they?" Lunar shouted in frustration.

He finally entered the forest, and quickly searched through, hopping from lower branches of trees.

All of the sudden, he heard a loud clanking sound, and headed quickly to it. He thought he had reached where the sound was coming from, and looked around. Nothing. He sat there for a few minutes. Another clank. Lunar was infuriated at this. It was right where he was, but he couldn't see anything. Another clank.

_Gah! _Lunar thought, _Its right where I am! Where the hell is that sound coming from?_

Another clank. Lunar had a sudden revelation. He jumped up, above the tree canopy, and stood on a tree. Before him was Caleb, training with his axe on top of the trees.

"Why, hello." Lunar said.

"Lunar!" Caleb said, happy to see his cloaked friend after a while. "What brings you here?

You said we were gonna leave each other alone for the ten months."

"I know, but I thought we should train together for a while."

"That seems to be a good idea."

"Speaking of which, have you seen Devon in this forest? I can't seem to find him anywhere."

"Well that can't be good. Where could he be?"

"I don't know. I may have missed him. Oh well, he'll turn up eventually."

Caleb laughed. "I guess your right."

They left the forest, hopping over the tops of trees, until they reached the center of the Storm Circle once again.

"So what do you plan on for training?" Caleb yelled over the heavy winds.

"I was thinking that first, we should have mock battles, to train ourselves to fight against other people!"

"I agree! But what will we use to fight?"

"Don't worry! I came prepared!

Lunar released his cloak, and under, were two wooden weapons. He had one wooden sword, and one wooden axe, with the proportions of their regular weapons. They both put down their regular weapons to the side.

"Here, catch!" Lunar said, throwing the weapon to Caleb.

"Heh, I like it!" Caleb said, with anticipation. "Let's get started then!

"Wait! I have a quieter place to go!"

"Oh really? Then let's go!"

Lunar led Caleb over to a small cave he dug into a large rock formation. They entered the cave. It was a huge dome, at least one hundred feet wide, and twice that deep in.

"Whoa, this place is big!" Caleb said, able to lower his voice again.

"Yeah. It'll be easier to train in here."

"Well then let's get started!"

Caleb charged forward at Lunar, attacking without hesitation.

Lunar easily sidestepped out of the way. "You'll have to do better than that if you want to beat Anx!" Lunar hit Caleb in the back with his wooden sword.

Caleb fell to the ground along with his wooden axe. "Heh, I guess so!" he said, standing up.

He yelled as he ran at Lunar, swinging his axe over his head.

Lunar blocked it with his sword. "Good, good. Use any tactics to get a drop on your opponent." He jumped over Caleb and slashed at his back.

Caleb quickly turned around and blocked it. "Enough talk." Caleb said, "I get it now."

"If you insist." Lunar said, slashing at Caleb again.

Caleb blocked it, and swung a wide arc of his axe around from the side at Lunar. He put his sword up to block the axe coming at him. Caleb couldn't help but grin as Lunar did this.

Lunar noticed this grin. "Wha-?" he suddenly noticed what Caleb was doing.

"Gotcha." Caleb said. He turned his axe, so that the hilt was pointed at Lunar's chest. He then used the hilt to hit Lunar in the chest, temporally stunning him. It was all done after that. Caleb swung his axe in a wide vertical arc, hitting Lunar in the head with his axe. Lunar fell to the ground.

"Ugh," Lunar said struggling up from the ground. "Good." He noticed that his head was bleeding. "Heh, never thought you'd get me, let alone make me bleed. We have a long time of training ahead of us."

A month passed, and Lunar and Caleb trained the whole time. They not only trained against one another, but in unison as well.

Lunar awoke the morning of the day they would leave the training ground.

"Caleb, wake up! We've got to go and meet Devon!"

"Wha-ah!" Caleb said, waking up. "That's right!"

They walked out of their cave, and went back to the middle of the Storm Circle.

They looked around, "Still no Devon!" Lunar said, shouting over the winds yet again.

"We'll just wait; if he's not here by tomorrow, we'll leave without him!"

"Okay!" Lunar said, and sat down.

They waited all day for Devon to come. He didn't come for a while, so Lunar decided to do something productive.

"Hey, Caleb! Let's practice some more!"

"Okay! Sure!"

Lunar handed Caleb his wooden axe, and picked up his own wooden sword. Caleb didn't hesitate to attack. He slashed from high above his head. Lunar, caught by surprise, quickly put his sword above his head to block. Although he was able to block it, he was put in a disadvantageous position. He was forced down on one knee, and struggling still. However, Lunar found a way to use this to his advantage. He used the knee not on the ground to kick Caleb in the exposed chest. He staggered back, and Lunar took this opportunity to attack again. He jumped up and did a spinning kick to Caleb's face. Caleb fell to the ground face first.

"Did I miss something?" a familiar voice said. Lunar turned to see Devon standing a bit behind him. "Or do you enjoy beating on Caleb?"

"Devon!" Lunar yelled, happy to see his friend.

Caleb got up and ran with Lunar over to where Devon was standing.

"Where were you?" Lunar asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I _mean_, that we were looking for you! Caleb and I were doing some combination training, but we couldn't find you!"

"Oh yeah! Sorry, I have been moving around and training in different places frequently!"

"Okay, well, we should probably go now!"

"Let's!"

They left the Storm Circle, heading back into Glacia. They passed by Mia's cave, and decided to say hello.

"Hello?" Lunar shouted inside the cave.

Mia came out shortly after Lunar shouted into the cave.

"Hey! You guys are here! It's been so long!" she said, looking at Devon.

"Yeah, we finished our training and are about to head back into Glacia." Lunar said.

"Oh, you've got to go confront Anx." She said.

"Yeah." Lunar said, almost in disappointment.

"Well, I shouldn't keep you." she said.

"I guess so." Lunar said.

They left her cave, and climbed back up the outer mountains of the Storm Circle. They headed all the way up the mountain, and back into Glacia again.

"We should probably go see King Glacius." Lunar said. "Just to see if he's alright and all."

"That's a good idea." Caleb said.

"Then it's settled." Devon said.

They headed off to the castle. It took them a few hours, but they eventually reached it. They saw a guard at the entrance of the castle.

"Here we go again." Caleb said.

"Halt! No one sees the king!" the guard shouted as they walked up to the castle.

"I'll handle this." Caleb said, "We need to see the king."

"You can't just march in here and see the king!"

"Just tell him that Caleb Toburio is here to see him."

"He refuses to meet with anyone!"

"Huh?" Lunar said to himself, noticing something.

"I don't care if he doesn't! We need to see him."

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"That's weird." Lunar said again to himself.

"No! We need to see King Glacius!"

"Sir!"

"You're not a Glacian sol-"

The guard interrupted with a slash of his sword at Lunar.

"I knew it!" Lunar said as he blocked the soldier's sword. He slashed his sword, cutting the soldier in half. "Something's going on!"

They broke through the gate, and ran through the castle. They took as many shortcuts as they could to make it to the throne room. The lack of guards surprised them. Once they finally reached the throne room, they burst through the door. Caleb gasped at what he saw before him. King Glacius was sitting at his throne. There was only one problem. His head wasn't there.

"Oh, that's terrible." Lunar said.

"Anx is merciless." Caleb said.

"Come on, let's check if any of the others are dead."

They checked all the royal chambers in the palace. Mia's room was, of course, empty. The room for the king and queen was even worse than the throne. The queen's headless body was at the top of their bed. That wasn't the worst part. Her head was lying right next to her on a pillow.

"Wait," Caleb said, "Couldn't Anx still be here, just like at Toburio's castle?"

"No." Lunar said. "These bodies don't have fresh blood. They were obviously prepared for us to see."

"Okay." Caleb said. "Let's check the other rooms."

They entered the King's son, Kayle's room.

"I don't see him." Caleb said.

"He probably was able to get away before Anx got to him." Lunar said, more hopeful than certain.

"I guess." Caleb said, noticing the uncertainty in Lunar's voice.

"The best thing we can do now is to confront Anx." Devon said.

"Yeah." Lunar said.

They left the castle, heading to find Anx.

"So where do we go?" Devon asked.

"Rumors have it that Anx's castle on the island north of the Divergent Mountains." Lunar said.

"Well we can't blindly go there based on rumor." Caleb said.

"It's our best bet, so we might as well."

"Fine. If you insist."

They continued to the tip of the coast of Glacia, and eventually reached a port that could take them to the island they wanted. They approached a man who was by his boat.

"Hello sir," Lunar said, "We were looking for someone who could give us a ride to the island just northeast of here. Would you be interested? You wont regret it."

"Are you crazy?" The man said, "No one in this port is going there anymore! Not since the rumors of Anx being there started!"

"Oh, is that so?" Lunar asked. "Then how would you feel about selling us your ship?"

"My ship? Not a chance! She's my pride and joy!"

"Really? How about for ten thousand gold?"

"I said no."

"Fifteen thousand."

"No."

"Twenty thousand."

"I'm telling you, no."

"Okay, this is my final offer."

"How many ti-"

"Fifty thousand gold."

"Fifty… thousand? You'd pay that much?"

"Of course."

"It's a done deal!"

Lunar handed the man fifty thousand of his gold that Samuel had given him."

"Thank you very much." Lunar said.

"No, no, thank _you_!" the man said, handing Lunar the deed to the ship.

After the man had left, Caleb approached Lunar. "Do you really think it was okay to spend that much on a ship? That's five time's as much as a ship of this quality costs!" he said.

"It's for a good cause." Lunar said with a grin.

"Very well then." Caleb said.

They boarded the ship. Lunar took the wheel and they left the port. It took them a few hours, but eventually they saw the coast of the island in sight.

"Get ready." Lunar said, "This is the final battle. We give it our all, and defeat Anx. Do anything you need to defeat him, but I don't want either of you dying on me!" Lunar turned in and they landed on the island. He looked back at Caleb and Devon. "Let's go."


	21. Departure

They hopped off of the ship, and onto the island's sandy beach. It wasn't very big, yet it was comforting to have solid ground below their feet. They walked across the beach; it was only a short way to Anx's castle. They walked over to the main gate to the castle. Lunar walked up to the gate and tried to force it open.

He grunted as he tried to push the door open. "Open!" he said and pushed again. Getting frustrated, he pulled out his sword. "OPEN!" he said and swung his sword with all his force at the door. It did nothing.

"Lunar, let us help." Caleb said, walking over with Devon. "Let's all attack at once." He said. "On my count. Three… two… one… GO!"

All three of them slashed at the door with their weapons. This force of impact created a large hole in the gate, big enough for them to fit through.

"That should do." Lunar said, but his accomplishment was short lived. He noticed the whole slowly regenerating. "Damn! It must be enchanted! Quickly! Jump through!"

One by one, they jumped through the whole, barely making it.

"Jeez." Lunar said, on his knees. "Can't make it easy, can you, Anx?"

He rose up and looked around. They were in a large, rectangular tunnel. It had enough ceiling space for them to not be squeezed in, and enough space for them to walked side by side through the tunnel. The tunnel was constructed of worn, yellow-brown brick, and was lit by dim candlelight. It almost seemed as a dungeon. The three continued through the tunnel. They walked for a little bit. All of the sudden, Lunar heard a faint whistle. Quickly, he stepped to the side, as an arrow flew and stuck into the ground where he was standing.

"Phew." Lunar said, in relief, "That was close. I guess Anx has this place loaded with traps. We should proceed with caution from now on."

"I agree." Caleb said.

They slowly made their way through the tunnel, occasionally dodging a trap or so. Eventually, they reached a set of stairs. They walked up the stairs and entered a large room. It had a large stained glass window on the wall opposite them depicting Anx. The two sides were filled with two stories of archways.

"Wait." Lunar said, looking around before proceeding, "It's a dead end. How can that be? It was a completely straight tunnel up to here!"

"I don't know." Caleb said, "We must have missed something along the way."

"Damn!" Lunar said, smacking his hand against the wall to his right.

"Lunar, calm down." Caleb said, putting his hand on Lunar's shoulder, "We'll just retrace our steps."

Lunar noticed Devon walking forward into the room. "Devon, what are you doing?" he asked. "It's a dead end! This may very well be a trap!"

Devon's only reply was a sinister laugh.

"Devon?" Lunar said.

"You fool." He laughed again, turning to them, "It _is_ a trap!"

A group of arches emerged, one in each archway. Lunar estimated that there were at least fifty of them. Lunar released his cloak and they both drew their weapons.

"Devon!" Lunar said, "What… what are you doing?"

Devon laughed again. "This was all a trap. To kill you without Lord Anx having to raise a finger."

"Lord… Anx?" Caleb said.

"Yes." Devon said, "_Lord_ Anx. My new master."

"Master?" Lunar said in anger.

"Yes." Devon said. "The real reason that you couldn't find me back in the Storm Circle, was because I wasn't there. I have been working for Lord Anx for the past ten months."

"I can't believe you!" Lunar said.

"You don't have to." Devon said, "Archers, ATTACK!"

"Caleb," Lunar said while the archers loaded their arrows and pulled their drawstrings back, "We have to use our combination defense we practiced."

"Gotcha." Caleb said.

Lunar and Caleb stood back to back, and the swung their weapons around them. Lunar created a half dome of crystal shards, and Caleb swung his axe while the blade was off its hilt. This blocked all of the arrows coming at them.

"Cover me." Lunar whispered to Caleb.

He jumped up above their protective dome. Before any of the archers could react, he spun around, shooting an arc of crystals at all the archers. Not a single one survived. He landed next to Caleb, who had stopped spinning his axe by now.

Devon slowly clapped his hands. "Impressive." He said sarcastically, "You took out all those soldiers without even a scratch."

Lunar pointed his sword at Devon. "We're done talking."

Devon laughed again. "Very well then." He pulled out his two golden two-pronged knives.

"Stay back, Caleb," Lunar said, then turned to Devon, "This is our fight."

Lunar rushed forward with his sword, swinging it over his head. He swung it down at Devon. Devon raised his arm, using only one knife. He didn't move back at all.

"You…" Lunar said, struggling to overpower Devon.

"Just like the first fight you saw of me. I can withstand a huge sword, with only one knife."

This drew out an outburst in Lunar. "Why?" he yelled, swinging repeatedly at Devon. "Why did you leave us? Why did you go to Anx?"

"Because." Devon said, still calm, "It was the wisest decision. Anx is more powerful. We didn't stand a chance. I decided to join him before it was too late. I knew you wouldn't understand."

"Enough!" Lunar said, slashing hard against Devon again. "I've had enough of you! There is nothing you can do anymore!"

Lunar stopped talking after that. He jumped high over Devon, swinging his sword, shooting crystals at Devon from above. Devon was able to block all of them, and Lunar landed behind Devon, facing him. He swung again, but Devon easily blocked. He then took a wide swing from the outside. Devon put his hands on the top of it, and swung his legs over. Lunar then swung from overhead at him. He easily sidestepped out of the way. He then took an offensive strategy. He swung his leg around and kicked Lunar in the side of the face. It sent him flying over to the side of the room, breaking a pillar on one of the arches. Lunar rose up, hunched, from the rubble he created. He had blood dripping from his forehead and mouth.

"You've grown, Devon." He said.

Devon only looked at him with a scowl.

"Not gonna talk, huh?" Lunar said, "I guess I'll have to beat the words out of you."

He rushed forward at Devon, barraging him with attacks. Devon easily blocked each attack. In a pause between attacks Devon managed to get an uppercut to Lunar's chest. He went straight up, hitting the ceiling. He fell back down to the ground. Devon looked victoriously over Lunar.

"Where's that talk now?" Devon said.

He pulled out one of his golden knives. Lunar watched it glisten as Devon thrust it down towards his heart. He barely managed to move out of the way, but it still hit his chest.

"Heh." Lunar managed to say, "I got you to… talk."

Devon just looked down at Lunar, emotionless. He walked away from Lunar, towards Caleb. He turned around, hearing a noise behind him. He saw Lunar standing up; the knife still in his chest.

"Devon," he said with a grunt, as he pulled the knife out of his chest. "I don't… die so easily." He looked at the knife in his hand, playing with its prongs. "I remember when we first got you this weapon. We intended for it to be a blade of justice, but I never believed that it would have _my _blood on it."

"You don't know when to give up, do you?" Devon said.

"Nope." Lunar said with a grin, "But that's why I'm gonna beat you."

"You have no right to say that, in your condition." Devon said, looking at Lunar's wounds.

Lunar wiped blood from the corner of his mouth. "You act as if you think that you can beat me. _Me_! The person who is the whole reason you're even here now!"

"Oh, that's because I can!" Devon said. "Anx is much more powerful than you are."

"Oh is he?" Lunar said. "I beg to differ."

"Yes." Devon said, "But enough argument. Time to die!"

He pulled out his other golden knife and charged forward at Lunar. Lunar pulled out his sword and blocked it, forcing him to drop Devon's other knife. Devon reached down and picked it up.

Devon smirked at the fact. "I'll end this quickly." He put his two knives together, making them form into his long, golden, double-sided trident. "It's over." He said, looking up at Lunar with an evil anticipation in his eyes.

The two ran forward at each other, and then swung once they came together. Lunar remembered the first fight he saw of Devon.

"Such promise." He said, "What a waste."

Blood suddenly started bursting from his chest. He then fell to the ground.

Devon walked over to Lunar on the ground. "I'm sorry." He said, but Caleb didn't hear. He thrust his trident down into Lunar's heart.

Lunar's body jerked for a few seconds, then it fell, motionless to the ground.

"Lunar!" Caleb shouted, reaching out as if he could stop Devon. "How could you?"

"I serve Anx now." Devon said, pulling out his trident as he was still looking at Lunar, "Accept it."

Caleb looked at Lunar. His body was still. Caleb then looked to Lunar's face. When he looked into to Lunar's eyes, he was sure of it. Just by looking at those eyes, those lifeless eyes, he was sure. Lunar was dead.

Devon then turned to Caleb. "Time for _you_ to die."

"Not a chance." Caleb said, putting his axe at the ready.

"I don't need to fight you." He said, walking over to the tunnel they entered the

castle from. He pulled a brick from the side of the wall, revealing a switch. "_This _will do the job." He flipped the switch, and the castle began to rumble. "Enjoy death!" he said, and ran down the tunnel.

Caleb began to chase after Devon, but then stopped. He looked back at Lunar, and he felt a connection to the dead body on the ground. He had to bring it back. He ran back, and lifted it over his shoulder. While he tried to run back to the tunnel, a large boulder of debris fell in front of the tunnel, blocking it.

_Damn! _He looked around, for another way out. His attention was drawn to the large stained glass window on the opposite side of the room. _The window! I can break through that! _Another piece of debris fell next to him. _I've got to do it quick!"_

He set Lunar's body next to the window, and then pulled out his axe. He spun around, and then threw the axe through the window. it crashed through, revealing the light outside. Caleb picked up Lunar's body, and then jumped through the hole. He barely made it. He tumbled to the ground as the castle was reduced to rubble behind him. He put Lunar's body on the ground and looked to the other side of the island. He saw Devon climbing up onto the boat, and pulling it's anchor up.

_Damn! _Caleb watched as Devon sailed away from the island. Now_ how am I going to get back to Khronya? _He looked back at Lunar's body. He sighed. _I can't just leave this here like this. I'll give him a proper burial first. I'll never forget you, Lunar._


	22. Fulfilled

Devon looked back at the island. Although he served Anx, he still couldn't help but feel regret for killing his two friends.

He shook his head. _It doesn't matter anymore. I cut all my ties to them when_ _I joined Anx._

He sailed south, to where Anx truly was. He tried to get over the fact that Caleb and Lunar were dead, but there was always one part of him that couldn't. He still felt connected to them in some way.

He finally reached the north coast of the Divergent Mountains. _I have to stay calm. I'm going to see _him._ He won't tolerate my remorse. _

Devon got off the boat on the coast of the Divergent Mountains. He looked at the first big mountain that he came to. After making sure it was right, he began to climb up the mountain. He walked to the very peak of the mountain, where Devon could tell it was artificial rock. He looked down, and saw a small hole. After looking around to see that no one was watching, he slipped a small metal key into the hole. There was a _clank_, and the artificial mountain peak snapped open. Devon dropped down into the now open mountain, and closed the artificial peak once again. He was in a dark, circular room, lit only by a few torches. He looked around, and eventually found a ladder leading down, deeper into the mountain. He went down the ladder, and eventually reached the ground. He followed a path similar to the one in the trap castle he had just come form. Eventually he reached a stone archway. He stood before it, and then walked through the archway. What he came to was a huge improvement from the depressing path he had followed up until this point. Brightly lit, white marble lined the outside of this room. Unlike the previous castle, it was filled with paintings, curtains and antiques. Devon walked through this room, looking around at the different passages that extended in all directions. After careful decision, he chose to take the main staircase straight ahead of him. He walked up the staircase, and opened the door in front of him. Past this door was a circular hall, with even more passages extending from it. He took the grand door straight ahead of him. This very passage led to Anx's throne room. Devon opened the door, revealing Anx, sitting at his throne. At this sight, he walked in, and knelt before Anx's throne, with his head facing down.

"Rise, Devon." Anx said, to the kneeling man that stood before him.

"Yes, master." Devon said, mindlessly obedient.

"You have come to me. For what cause must I be bothered?" He said, stating the obvious fact that he disliked Devon's company.

"It is done." Devon said, not looking directly at Anx. _Those eyes. _He thought, _It's as if they can kill me if I just look at them. _He remembered his first encounter with Anx.

"Good." Anx said, grinning, "Very good!"

Devon continued to look down, as Anx laughed hysterically.

"Congratulations, Devon." he said, still grinning. "You have shown me your loyalty." Anx paused for a few minutes to ponder. "Let's see… You have followed my every order I have given you since you joined me. You have provided to be very persuasive, and have earned us many soldiers; even one general. And, most of all, you have killed my major enemies. I must say, you do not disappoint."

"Thank you, master."

"Now, all there is left is when the time comes to destroy the Shockwave. If you prove loyal, and help me destroy it, you will be rewarded. I will grant you the privilege of living in my new world."

"I will not disappoint."

"There is only one task left, until we are completely prepared. I must do this task myself."

"What task might that be?"

"I must venture back to the site of your fight with Lunar and Caleb?"

"Why might that be? Did I do something wrong?"

"No. I could not let you do this task. This is the most important task that I will ever do. Even more important than destroying the Shockwave."

"What is it?"

Anx sighed. "It is time, that I tell you something. Something very important."


	23. Master

Caleb finally decided to act as soon as Devon was out of sight. First priority was to bury Lunar. He went over to the rubble from the castle, and picked up a large stone from it. He brought it over to Lunar, and stuck it in the ground. With that, he walked back over to the rubble. Looking around, he eventually picked a small knife that Devon left at the castle.

"This will do." He said, but he was not content with what he was doing.

He walked back over to the stone, and began to sharpen it with the knife. He did this until it became a neat, square stone. After that, he began to engrave the stone. He worked for a while to engrave it, but it eventually was finished. On it, it read:

"To Lunar. He fought hard, but in the end, he could not win. If there had not been a betrayal, he may be alive now. Alas, things did not turn out well. We will always, remember Lunar."

He looked at the grave, tears dripping from his eyes. He stayed there for a while, thinking about Lunar's death. The more he thought, the more he felt guilty for it. Shaking his head, he began to work again. Using only his hands, he dug a hole, big enough for Lunar's body. He worked day and night for two days. He finally finished the grave the night after Lunar's death. He looked at Lunar's body one last time before he buried it.

"Goodbye, Lunar." Caleb said, "I'll never forget you."

Caleb picked up Lunar's body, and as he was about to set it in the grave, he noticed something. Something he would only notice at this dark light, and with close inspection. Around Lunar's wounds was a glowing blue aura. It was very faint, and only outlining the wounds. Also, with a little thought, Caleb remembered Lunar's wounds being more serious than the current state they were in. Caleb then took notice of Lunar's pendant. It also, was glowing faintly.

"Wha… What is going on?" he reached to touch the pendant.

With only the slightest touch of Caleb's finger, the pendant began to glow even brighter. It eventually grew bright enough, that it was blinding Caleb. He looked away, but his finger was still attached to Lunar's pendant. The light shone intensely for a few seconds, and then it suddenly absorbed into Lunar's pendant again.

Caleb looked back at Lunar. "What was that?"

Caleb then took note of Lunar's body. His wounds were completely healed; not even a scratch.

"But… how?"

With that, Lunar's eyes shot open.

"Lunar!"

He struggled to get up. "Wha… where am I?" he said, looking around at the rubble of the castle.

"This is the ruin of your battle with Devon."

"My… battle with Devon?" he grunted. "Yes… yes… I remember now. All I remember is that I was on the ground, and then he stabbed me with his trident. After that, I just blacked out." He looked around again, and then behind him. He saw the grave Caleb had made for him. "What is this? How did this happen?"

Caleb sighed, prepared to tell Lunar the full story, as well as ask some questions of his own. "Well, you see, Devon stabbed you… through the heart. You were dead, I'm sure of that."

"Dead? But how?" Lunar said, looking at himself, as if making sure that he was alive.

"I'm not sure how you did it, but you're alive now. Anyways, Devon then hit a switch, which made the castle collapse on us. I barely got us out in time."

"But… Why did you bother with my dead body?"

"I couldn't have left it there. Turn's out that that was beneficial in more ways than one. "

"It would seem so."

"And now… You have your own explaining to do."

"What do you mean?

"Don't play dumb. I saw what happened. You were dead, but somehow that crystal healed you too. The same thing happened when we first fought Anx. You were terribly injured, and somehow you just recovered from it really fast."

Lunar sighed. "I thought I could keep it a secret. My name… is Lunar… Lunar Galaxy. Heir to the ancient throne."


	24. Burial

"Mommy, mommy!" the black haired toddler yelled, running to his mother.

"What is it, Lunar?" the woman said, while she was holding another child on her lap. He was similar to Lunar, yet he had blond hair.

"I want to play with Solar!"

"I don't know…" she said, teasing her child.

"Pleeeeeeeease?" the child begged.

"Oh, okay." The woman said, letting the child get off her lap.

She watched her children run off through the stone halls of their castle.

"Luna." She heard a man's voice say, and she turned around. She saw her husband standing across the room from her.

"Oh, it's you Sol."

"I need to talk to you."

"What is it?"

"It's about the rebellion."

"What about it? I thought we were doing fine in conquering their forces."

"We were, but they have gained a certain strength. I'm not sure how, but they have become braver. Our forces have been completely routed in the last two battles."

"What do you think we should do?"

"I'm not sure, but we need to be prepared." he said, looking over at the children playing. "For their sake."

"Okay."

Weeks passed, and nothing significant happened. Only a few battles were fought, and the King's forces began to be the dominating force. After a month, Luna approached her husband sitting at the throne.

"Sol, I don't think we need to worry. It's been a month, and the rebels haven't won a single battle, nor have they taken any significant actions. I think we can rest peacefully tonight."

However, she was very wrong. Later that day, something terrible happened. Luna was playing with her children, and Sol was sitting at his throne, troubled by the current rebellion.

"King Galaxy!" a soldier shouted, running to the throne. "The rebels are at the gate!"

"What?"

"They're easily killing the guards!" We don't have much time until they get here."

Luna came over noticing the conversation. "We have to get out; we have to use the secret passageway."

"No." Sol said, "I'm staying here." He turned to the soldier, "Send out a message; have all the guards come here. Then come back as quickly as you can."

"Well if you're staying," Luna said, "I'm staying.

The soldier came back to the King.

Sol sighed, "It's time to do your job, Samuel."

The soldier took his helmet off, revealing that he was an older man. "You're really going to do this?"

'"I have to. Take the children through the secret passageway. It leads to Sotachi, our secret city for refugees from the rebellion."

"I hate to leave you, but fine." Samuel ran over to the children. "Lunar, Solar, grandpa's going to have to take you away from your parents, okay? They have important business to do."

"Mommy, daddy?" Solar said, looking around Samuel.

Luna only nodded, choked up by tears. Samuel then picked up the children and took them through a secret passageway in the wall near them.

"Goodbye, both of you. I'll take good care of them."

"Thank you." was all Sol could say.

Samuel closed the wall to the passageway, and began to run down it. Moments later, he heard loud cries of war, and the clashing of spears and swords. Samuel shuddered at the thought of what was going on in the throne room.

"Grandpa, what's going on?" Lunar asked.

"We need to be quiet Lunar." He whispered.

He continued to run through the passage, until eventually he found the exit. He walked out, and he saw that he was in a small town, surrounded by mountains.

"Safe." He said, and dropped to his knees, with the children still in his arms.

Many years passed, and Samuel lived peacefully with his grandchildren in Sotachi. Shortly after the attack on the castle, the nation of Galaxia split. They kept the name for the continent, but they formed two new nations. Khronya and Glacia were the names. To ensure that they were split, they sealed off all passes through the Divergent Mountains with large boulders, so not just anyone could pass with ease. Samuel, however, did not care. He planned on living in Sotachi for his entire life, separated from the world around him.


	25. Galaxy

Ten years passed after the rebellion. Lunar and Solar were now fifteen years old, and they began to show talent with their weapons. They began to have play swordfights with wooden sticks. Samuel, to humor them, came and watched one of their battles.

"Watch this." Solar said, turning and grinning at Lunar.

"I'm not gonna hold back." Lunar said, grinning back.

"I don't expect you to." Solar said, and charged at Lunar.

Lunar responded and blocked with his sword. He then swung at Solar, who easily blocked as well. They continued with this cycle of striking and blocking.

_Just an average swordfight between two brothers. _He thought, _They don't seem to have any particular skill yet. I hope to keep it that way._

Samuel was surprised at what happened next. Lunar jumped over Solar and did a flip while spinning his sword. Solar was able to raise his sword up and block it, but then Lunar landed behind him. Immediately, Lunar swung around at Solar's back. Solar swung his hand around his back, and blocked the strike without even turning around. He then turned around and began to barrage Lunar with rapid sword strikes. Lunar blocked them. Solar was swinging three strikes every second, yet Lunar was able to respond and block each of them. Lunar took advantage of a short pause between Solar's strikes, and swung a wide horizontal arc at Solar's head. Solar was able to drop to one knee, ducking from Lunar's swing, and poke Lunar in the chest.

"Gotcha." Solar said grinning even wider.

They both turned their heads as they heard clapping.

"Good job! Both of you!" Samuel said as he walked over to them. "I'm proud of you! Keep up the good work!"

"Thanks Grandpa!" Lunar said.

"I've gotta go make dinner, but you guys can keep working. I'll call you when it's ready."

He turned around to walk towards his house, and the smile vanished from his face. _How did they do that? They are that powerful? If I let them continue to do this, they may leave, and try to avenge their parents! _He sighed, _I best not worry about it. I'll deal with it when the time comes._

Not a short time passed before that time came. Samuel came back to them training one day, and was amazed at what he saw. He saw them training with large blue crystal blades.

"Whoa!' Samuel said, running over to them. "What are you two doing? Where did you get those?"

"Oh, these?" Lunar asked, "They appeared next to our crystals this morning. Didn't you leave them?"

"No… but what crystals are you talking about?" Samuel asked.

"These," Lunar said, lifting up a blue crystal pendant that was hanging around his neck. "They were given to us by our parents shortly before the rebellion. They were originally white, but they changed colors this morning."

"Oh." Samuel said, sounding disappointed, "Just be careful, okay?" he turned away, heading back to his house. _Fragments of the comet? What were they thinking giving them to children? Even they had trouble controlling the fragments! I need to stop this before it gets out of hand._

The next morning, Samuel decided to act. He sat Lunar and Solar down next to him at the table before they left to train.

"Listen, Lunar, Solar, we need to talk." He said, "I'm not comfortable with you to with those swords and crystals. Those are very important, and I can't respect your parent's choice in giving you those."

"But come on Grandpa!" Lunar said, "We're really good! You saw us!"

"I know, but that power is difficult to handle. Even your parents had trouble using those. That's what the rebellion was about!"

"What… _power_ are you speaking of, exactly?" Solar said, chiming in to the conversation.

Samuel clenched his fists, realizing the mistake he had made.

"Grandpa?" Lunar said, "Is there something you want to tell us?"

Samuel sighed, "Those crystals… are fragments of Eternity's Comet. They are extremely powerful, as well as difficult to control. That's why I can't let you have those crystals."

"Why not?" Solar said, standing up, "Shouldn't you encourage us to be powerful? To protect people we love? We already failed once!"

"This is exactly what I feared." Samuel said, standing up as well, "If you discovered their power, then you would become obsessed and try to avenge your parents. That's why I'll have to take your crystals!"

"NO!" Solar said, slamming his fist against the table, breaking it into two pieces, "I won't let you take this!"

"Calm down, Solar." Samuel said, putting his hands up.

"I will NOT!" Solar said. His crystal and sword began to fade from its blue color, to a darker red. "I WILL use this power!" He stormed out the door in a fit of rage.

"Don't worry grandpa," Lunar said. Samuel looked at Lunar, noticing that his crystal was still blue. "I'll get him back."

"Thank you, Lunar." Samuel said, sitting down with a sigh.


	26. Darkness

Lunar ran out the door, after Solar. He reached him on the edge of the town. He noticed that Solar's crystal was now completely red.

"Come on, Solar." Lunar said, "Let's just stay here. We can live peacefully."

"No!" Solar said, "For the last time, no! I'm going to master this power, and I will punish the rebels. I will become justice!"

"I can't let you do that." Lunar said, drawing his blade.

"Oh, are you going to stop me?" Solar said, laughing.

"Solar." Lunar said, "It sounded so promising. 'Light.' To think you would become this corrupted."

"Enough! In that case, I will not be called Solar! My name is… ANX!"

"Is that so? Very well." Lunar pointed his blade straight ahead at Solar. "Then I WILL stop you!"

"That's a laugh. You think you can beat me? Do you not remember our practice fights?"

"I do. But it will be different this time. Your skills have become clouded with evil."

"Evil? You mean _power. _This is anything but evil! It is justice!"

"You have been so corrupted… that you can't even tell what has happened to you."

"Enough talk! Are you gonna stop me or not?"

Lunar then charged forward at Solar. Solar was caught by surprise, yet was still able to block it. He then jumped over Solar, and began to run up the mountain in front of him. Solar charged at Lunar, away from their town of Sotachi.

Lunar ran up to the peak of the mountain, and then swung back at Solar. Caught by surprise, Solar quickly skid to a stop and blocked. Lunar then did a back flip on to a mountain near the one he was on. He stood across from Solar, on a mountain peak a few feet away. Solar then took an offensive strategy. He came at Lunar with a massive force that was so powerful, that Lunar began to slide down the mountain, while Solar was still trying to overcome him. Suddenly, as Solar was pushing Lunar back, a surge of blue light came from Lunar, sending Solar flying back. He flew over the peak of the mountain, landing on the other. Lunar jumped up above the peak and followed. He saw Solar and immediately charged down at him. Noticing Lunar, Solar quickly rolled out of the way, and Lunar stabbed into the mountain. While Lunar was struggling to pull his sword out, Solar took advantage of the situation and swung overhead at Lunar. Just in time, Lunar was able to pull his sword out and block, but he was forced down to one knee in that time.

"How…? What was that blue aura?" Solar shouted.

"It's the powers of the crystals! Unfortunately for you, your powers have been corrupted, and I doubt you will be able

to do that." Lunar said. _That's a lie. I have no idea how I did that, but maybe if he thinks that, he'll come back._

Solar all of the sudden started laughing hysterically. "You're lying." He laughed again, "I can always tell. Your left eye always twitches when you lie. You have no idea how you did that did you?"

Lunar didn't reply; he just pushed Solar forward with his sword. Lunar then charged forward, not missing an opportunity to strike. Solar tried to dodge, but Lunar's sword caught Solar's left arm, and cut deep into his bicep. Solar dropped his sword and grabbed his arm.

"How dare you!" he shouted with a grunt at Lunar.

"Done yet?"

"Never!" Solar said and picked his sword back up.

Solar charged at Lunar, using only his right arm with his sword. He jumped up and threw a kick before slashing down at Lunar again. Lunar, stunned by the kick, had no time to block Solar's attack, and the sword dug into his shoulder. Luckily, Lunar was able to stop Solar's sword before it got too deep into his shoulder. Solar, trying to get deeper in, eventually gave up and pulled his sword out of Lunar's shoulder and stepped back. Lunar dropped to one knee, and stuck his sword in the ground to keep him up. He looked up at Solar, who was grinning at this point.

"Are _you_ done yet?" he asked, still grinning.

Solar looked at Lunar, and saw a blue fire burning in Lunar's eyes. This was his anger at Solar. Suddenly, a blue aura began to envelop Lunar's body, and eventually was completely surrounding him. Solar's grin began to fade as he saw that Lunar's wound was quickly healing as well. Lunar said nothing and rose up from the ground. He left his sword in the ground and charged at Solar, quicker than Solar could even follow. All the sudden Solar felt a great force shove into his chest and then he was suddenly flying backwards. Everything was a blur to him, and then he felt a sharp pain in his back as he slammed into the peak of one of the mountains.

Solar shouted out in pain at this. He struggle up and slammed his sword against the mountain peak. "Damn you, Lunar!" he shouted as he pointed his sword at Lunar standing on a peak far from Solar.

"Give up, Solar! You won't be able to keep up with me now! I don't want to hurt you!"

"Never!" Solar shouted. He began to yell with all his might, and to Lunar's dismay, Solar began to be surrounded by a blood red aura, similar to Lunar's. He opened his eyes once the aura had completely enveloped him. "Where's your confidence now?" he shouted.

"It doesn't matter! I will stop you, no matter what!"

"Prove it then!" Solar said and charged through the air at Lunar.

"Come on!" Lunar shouted in response and charged at Solar flying towards him.

They flew closer at each other, and met in only a few seconds. Their aura's collided, and that was all Lunar could remember.

Then next thing he knew, he was looking up at Solar's upside down face. After a few seconds, he realized he was on the ground, and Solar was standing over him. He gasped, but he couldn't say anything.

"Don't talk." Solar said.

Lunar felt a wet feeling on his face, and he looked up to see that tears were dripping from Solar's face.

Solar closed his eyes and paused before he said anything. "Don't expect me to let you live the next we meet." He said, and walked away from Lunar.

Lunar tried to scream for help, but he couldn't. There was a warm feeling in his throat, and he realized that blood was blocking his throat. He looked down at his

body, and saw that there was a gaping hole just right of where his heart was.

_Am… am I going to die here? I… I can't. I have to get Solar back. I have to carry on. It's a shame. I can't move. I guess I won't… be able to fulfill my promise to grandpa. _

He passed out, and was left lying there for over an hour.


	27. True Power

"Lunar. Lunar! LUNAR!"

Lunar's eyes shot open at this sound. He looked up to see Samuel standing over him.

Lunar gasped yet again, unable to speak.

"I need to get you home, quick!"

Samuel picked Lunar up and rushed to his home.

"Grandpa?" was all Lunar could manage.

"Just be calm, Lunar." Samuel said, placing Lunar on the floor, "I'll heal you." Samuel reached into his shirt and pulled out a blue crystal pendant, similar to Lunar's.

He closed his eyes and held the crystal above Lunar's body and the crystal began to glow. A bright light enveloped Lunar, and the next thing he knew he was completely healed.

He put his hands on the ground and sat up. He put his hand over his heart, and to his surprise, it was whole. There was no hole at all, just skin.

"Wha… What did you do?" Lunar asked, able to speak again.

Samuel sighed. "I didn't finish telling you two about the crystals, mainly because I didn't want you to know of their power."

"You mean… That crystal is a fragment of the comet too?"

"Yes. Now, as I was saying, the crystals have more power that you know of, and more than any human being can comprehend. The power you have experienced is only a fraction of what is possible."

"You mean the healing you just did is what is possible with the crystals?"

"Precisely. But still, that isn't much. And I'm sure you noticed, but Solar's crystal began to turn a reddish color. Now… I don't want you to be surprised by what I am about to tell you next. The crystals… are parasites."

"Parasites?" Lunar yelled, taking off his crystal and throwing it across the room. "What do you mean parasites?"

"I _mean_ that the comet itself is alive. These fragments are shards of the comet, but are not alive themselves. They are fed by the comet, and are kept alive, but when they fall off, they cannot survive by themselves. Your parents knew this, and they wanted to see what would happen if a person used the crystal. I volunteered to be their test subject. Once they discovered the true powers of the crystals, they began to give them to people who they trusted. You were chosen to be as well. Now, back to the crystals. Whenever someone wears them, in any way, they latch on the person's soul. Once they reach a certain level of power, the crystals latch on, and change colors due to the composition of the user's soul."

"Com…position?"

"Yes. There are two parts to a person's soul: order… and chaos. The more chaotic your soul becomes, the redder the crystal becomes. The same applies to order; only it becomes blue. If a person's soul is balanced, then the crystal is white."

"So you mean that before our crystals turned red, we were balanced?"

"No. The crystals just hadn't latched on to your souls at that point. It isn't possible for anyone to be balanced individually."

"What do you mean… individually?"

"There is only one way to become balanced. Someone with a soul based on order is too compelled by their desire for peace. Someone with a soul based on chaos is too driven by their lust for power. You have to kill someone with a chaotic soul. Once anyone with a crystal dies, their soul is imprisoned in the crystal. Then, anyone else with a crystal can absorb that soul. It has only happened once before."

"When was that?"

"It was, when your father created the Shockwave. My other son, his brother, was given a crystal, but he was consumed by chaos. He thought that we should have let the comet come to us. He believed that he could intercept the comet, and be granted ultimate power. At first, it was only a suggestion. But when your father disobeyed and continued to build the Shockwave, his brother began to use force. They fought hard over it, and eventually, your father was forced to kill him. When he picked up the crystal, it absorbed into him. He was then granted… ultimate power. When a soul is balanced, the power's received from the crystal are amplified one-thousand fold. The only thing more powerful than that… is the comet itself. Your father knew this and used it to create the Shockwave. Along with his previous design, which was doubtful at best, the crystal would help to keep the comet away from our planet."

"The… ultimate power." Lunar said to himself.

"Yes. That is the highest power the crystal can reach. There are five levels the crystal can become. The first level is what you and Solar have already accomplished. It is when the crystal acknowledges your strength, and latches on to your soul. It gives you the weapon you are most skilled with, but made out of crystal, and much more powerful. I am not surprised that you and Solar had similar weapons. The next level… is the power of healing. This is what I have just done to you. You can heal virtually every wound. In fact, it can even heal death."

"Do you mean… that I would have died?"

"You may have. That's why I had to use my crystal. The second level also gives you the power of hypnosis."

Lunar thought about the concept of how close he was to death a few minutes ago.

"The third level," Samuel said, interrupting Lunar's thoughts, "Is the power of aura. I haven't reached it yet, but you're father did. It takes long to completely master it, but when you do, you are able to use the aura as a second weapon, as well as an amplifier to your own powers."

Now for the fourth level. The power of flight. It allows you to defy all laws of gravity, so that you can fly, using your aura. It even allows you to walk on water, or vertical walls and ceilings. And the last level… is the power I just explained to you. The ultimate power. You can only reached this if you have reached all of the previous levels, and have taken an opposite soul. It allows its user to do anything. They can reverse time, bring souls back from death, anything. I didn't want you two to learn of this, and chase after this power, which is why I kept it a secret all this time."

"I understand, grandpa. But what do you think Solar is going to do now?"

"I'm not sure Lunar, but we should certainly hope for the best."

_What he is going to _do _is get the ultimate power._ Solar thought, as he was listening outside the window. _He will reach the most power he can individually, and then he will come for you, _Lunar._ Be prepared._ He ran away from the house, and out of Sotachi, in pursuit of the ultimate power.


	28. Failure

"Wait… that's not possible!" Caleb shouted, in response to Lunar's ludicrous story. "Your… your story takes place thousands of years ago! The people you speak of couldn't be alive today!"

Lunar spread his arms out wide, as if beholding himself. "How do you explain _me_ then?" Caleb stuttered for a moment. "Exactly."

"Still." Caleb said, "You can't expect me to believe that!"

"Well, let me elaborate. The crystals also, once they latch on to you soul, keep you eternal. They allow you to live forever, as well as to adjust your age to any age you would like. I can be an infant, or an elder. Along with the power of healing, only two things can kill someone with a crystal. Those two are… someone with another crystal, or the comet itself."

"I can't believe that. I need proof."

"Okay then." Lunar said. He put his hand on his crystal, and then he changed into many different ages. They all resembled Lunar, just at a different age."

Caleb looked at Lunar, awe-struck. "No…. no way."

"Now, if you let me continue. After Samuel explained the crystals to me, I put away my sword. I didn't touch it, for the fear that I may be become corrupt with power. I kept my age at fifteen, and stayed as a recluse for most of my life. I kept it that way for a while, until one day. That day, I saw a girl. She was ten years old, and when I observed her, I felt a connection to her. She reminded me of my mother. I changed my age, and befriended her. Her name… was Tara Sotaro. We were friends for five years, and then I received a letter from Sol-… Anx. He told me that… he had reached the fourth level of power, and that he was going to come to kill me, and achieve ultimate power. Samuel and I didn't know it at the time, but Solar was listening to our conversation about the crystals. After that day, I left Tara, and went to the Weapons Academy. That's where I met you. I trained with my weapons there for five years, until we graduated. Then, I spent the rest of these three years training with the crystal. I only reached the second level, healing. Then, I received another letter from Anx. He told me he was going to destroy the Shockwave, and then come to kill me and take my crystal. That's when I came to you and Devon. While we were training, I spent the whole time meditating, and eventually reached the fourth level."

"Well if you reached that level, then why didn't you use it against Devon when he tried to kill you?"

"I couldn't. I was holding back against him. I just couldn't bring myself to kill him. That's why I let myself be 'killed' by him."

"Does anyone else besides me know?"

"Only one other. I told Tara when I left for the Weapons Academy. Besides that, it's a secret."

They sat there in silence for a few moments.

"Well," Lunar said, "We should probably leave now. We only have a week until Anx is going to destroy the Shockwave. We should prepare."

"How are we going to? Devon took our ship!"

"Don't worry; I came prepared for that."

"How?"

"Just come with me."

Lunar walked over to the other side of the island. He revealed a small, wooden, lifeboat from the ship.

"I took this from the boat in case of an emergency. Turns out it was useful after all."

"Well then let's go!"

They climbed into the boat, and Lunar handed Caleb two large, wooden oars and then picked up two for himself as well. They rowed their way all the way back to the northern coast of Khronya. It took them all night, and a little into the morning to get back. They docked in a small port town, just north of the Shockwave's position.

"Let's stay here for the day." Lunar said, "We can leave in the tomorrow morning."

"Okay," Caleb said.

They walked around the port town until they found a small inn. It was only two stories, and had only about twenty rooms. They walked in and paid for the night with Lunar's reserve money.

Meanwhile, Devon was accompanying his master on a ship to the island where the trap had been set, and where Lunar's dead body was.

"Master." Devon said, walking into Anx's private chambers. "We have arrived."

"Very well." Anx said, rising up. "Take me to where the body is.

"Yes sir." Devon said.

He got off of the boat with Anx, and took him to the rubble of where the trap castle was.

"It was right around here." Devon said, looking around.

"I see nothing."

"It's gotta be around here somewhere."

They looked around for over half an hour in the rubble, but found nothing at all, not even a trace.

"Where is it?" Anx asked Devon, on the verge of becoming infuriated with him.

"I don't know sir. He was here before."

Anx hit Devon in the chest, and sent him flying past the site where the rubble was. He walked over to where Devon was on the ground. He was about to hit him again, but he hesitated. He caught something in the corner of his eye. He walked over, and saw a large hole, and a gravestone with Lunar's name on it. He looked down the hole. There was nothing there. He then looked around, and saw the footprints of two people walking, and eventually leaving from the island. He turned to Devon.

"YOU!" he flew over to where Devon was and hit him again. "He wasn't dead!"

"B-but I swear! He was dead! I killed him with my own hands!"

"You liar! How did he get up and walk away, if you _killed_ him!"

"I… I don't know!"

Anx grabbed Devon's throat and lifted him up. "_How _do you not know?"

"I just don't!" Devon said.

Anx hit Devon across the face with his other hand, throwing him to the ground.

"I should have never let you do this! I should have killed them myself."

He began to yell, and his red aura surrounded him. It grew bigger and bigger, and was destroying all the rubble that surrounded him. Devon crouched down, to avoid the aura. When he opened his eyes the whole island was destroyed. The trees were burned, the rubble weathered down, and the whole island was a smoldering pile of ash.

"I'm sorry master." Devon said.

"You will fix this. When they attack us, you will fight for me. And if he isn't dead, I will make it the end of you."

"Yes master."


	29. Passing

Lunar and Caleb awoke in the morning of the next day. Something was strange though. Though it was late in the morning, the whole town was quiet. They walked out of their room, and out of the inn. No one was in the inn, and the streets of the town were all abandoned.

"Where is everyone?" Lunar asked.

"I'm not sure. Let's check the other parts of the town to see if anyone's left."

They checked the rest of the town, and no one was there. As they were about to leave, they saw someone rushing from their home with a large wagon towards the exit.

"Wait!" Lunar shouted. The man didn't stop and went right past Lunar. "I said wait!" Lunar flew over in front of the man and put his hand up, stopping the wagon. Lunar looked into the wagon and saw many of the man's personal belongings.

"What? What do you want of me?" the man said desperately.

"Where are you going? And where is everyone else?"

"Leaving the town! Anx went on a rampage on the island near us! Rumor is that he's coming here on his way to the Shockwave! None of us are foolish enough to stay!"

"Is that so?" Lunar said, to himself more than the man before him.

"Yes! Can I leave now?"

"Go ahead."

The man quickly scurried away with his wagon of belongings.

"Well that can't be good." Caleb said, walking over to Lunar.

"No, it can't.

"What do you think we should do? I think we should stay here and wait for Anx. Then we can ambush him and kill him before he even tries to destroy the Shockwave."

"No. It would be best to ambush him at the Shockwave. The environment there is the most ideal for that. And besides, we haven't prepared for him. It would be best to go to the Shockwave."

"Okay."

They walked to the Shockwave. It took them all day until they finally reached it. It was a large wood area surrounded by large cliffs. The trees reached at least fifty feet tall, but there weren't many of them close together. In the center of this large circular area of trees was a large circular lake, at least ten or twenty miles wide in diameter. At the center of this lake was a large island, where the Shockwave was held.

"Whoa!" Caleb said, "It's so grand! It's hard to think that anybody would be able to build _that_!"

"I wasn't alive at the time it was built, but if you knew my father, you would understand. He was a great man. He always put the people first, and did anything to protect them. It's no surprise that he built that."

"You looked up to your father, didn't you?"

"I did. Even after he died."

"It's a little late, but I'm sorry for your loss."

"Don't worry, I got over it shortly after he died."

Caleb looked at the Shockwave. It was easily one thousand feet tall, and five hundred wide. It was made a large metal square frame. At each corner were thick pillars, enough to support the large frame. At the center was a large rectangular pole that ended in a wide horizontal square. This was connected to the frame by a bunch of interconnecting thin metal poles attached to the top and bottom of it.

"How does that work, anyway?" Caleb asked.

"Well, when the comet passes, the mechanism in the center thrusts down into the ground. My father's crystal is in the square part that hits the ground. When it hits, it uses the power of the crystal, and sends a pulse of aura through the entire planet. Since the crystal is almost as powerful as the comet, it has the power to repel it from the planet for a short period of time, wherein the comet passes and gets out of our range. By that time, we are safe and don't have to worry about the comet for another thousand years."

"Have you seen it happen?"

"Yes. It's truly breathtaking, but at the same time it is terrifying. If all goes well, you may see it as well."

"That's why we must stop Anx."

"Indeed."

They set up camp a short way away from this area. They waited until the day before the passing, and eventually decided to head to the Shockwave. They stood around the proximity of the lake, waiting for Anx. Late into the afternoon, Anx came. They saw in the distance a large army of men, coming by the hundreds.

Caleb climbed up a tree, and looked at the army from a distance. "There are easily ten thousand men coming. I see foot soldiers, archers, cavalry, and heavily armored knights. We should prepare to fight them."

"Okay. Are you ready?"

"Yeah. Wait, what is that?"

"What? What do you see?"

"At the front lines, I see… Anx, Devon and… Kayle?"

"Kayle? You mean Glacius's son?"

"Yes!" He… he didn't run away, he joined Anx!"

"Damn him!" Lunar said. "How could he betray his own father?"

"I don't know why, but I'll kill him for this!" He jumped down from the tree and drew his axe to its full length. "Let's take them on!"

"Okay, I'll take Devon first, and then I'll attack Anx. Are you okay with that?"

"Yeah. Just don't go easy on Devon this time."

"Don't worry, I won't."

"Good."

They waited until the army reached the wood area. Anx, Devon and Kayle stood only a few yards away from the two men who had the courage to stand up to an entire army.

"Lunar." Anx said.

"Solar." Lunar said in response.

"I told you, that's not my name anymore!"

"It certainly is."

"No it's not!" he sighed, "Fine. Devon! Kayle! Take care of these two! Everyone else, form a perimeter around the area. Don't let a single one escape!"

"Yes master!" Kayle said, then he smirked at Caleb.

Devon said nothing; he just stared at Lunar.

"GO!" Anx shouted and flew over all of them, towards the Shockwave.

Lunar watched him fly, but looked back as he heard the sound of Devon coming at him. He quickly jumped out of the way, and released his cloak. Devon jumped at Lunar again, and Lunar drew one of his katanas in response and blocked Devon's knife. Devon's feet landed on the ground, but he was still pressing against Lunar's katana. Lunar pushed forward and slashed, sending Devon's hand to the side. Lunar then slashed again to Devon's other side, but he was quicker, and pulled out another knife, blocking Lunar's katana. Devon brought his other knife around at Lunar. Lunar brought his katana to that side and blocked it, and brought out a katana to block Devon's other knife. He then brought his legs up and kicked Devon with both feet in his exposed chest. Devon flipped over backward, but managed to land, and lunge at Lunar again. Lunar blocked again and jumped back. He put his two katanas together into his double-sided katana, and did the same thing with the other two. He then took a stance and pointed them at Devon.

"You must have forgotten." Devon said, "I have already seen all your tricks. I'm prepared to fight you."

Lunar didn't say anything. He then threw his two double-sided katanas like flying discs at Devon. Devon jumped horizontally and put his hand on the bottom, and dodged between the two swords. The swords came back around from the side into Lunar's hands.

"Still don't believe me?" Devon asked.

Lunar still said nothing. He then took apart one of his double sided swords and unsheathed the two swords. After this, he charged at Devon with his sword spinning in his hand in front of him. Devon quickly pulled out one of his golden knives, released the prongs, and got ready to block. When Lunar reached him, he put it up, and caught the blade in between the prongs of it. Lunar continued to push though, and eventually gave up and jumped back. He then threw his double sided katana at Devon vertically. Devon easily sidestepped out of the way. When he looked back over at Lunar, he wasn't there. Lunar was above him, slashing down with his two other swords. Devon quickly pulled out his other gold knife, and blocked the two. Suddenly, the spinning sword came back around and dug deep into Devon's shoulder. He collapsed to one knee, but still blocked Lunar's swords. Lunar then grabbed his double sided katana and jumped back.

"This time, it will be different." Lunar said.

"Of course it will." Devon said, rising up, "This time… I _will _kill you!"

Devon pulled out two knives and threw them at Lunar. Lunar easily blocked them, but then saw Devon coming from above with his trident. He thrust his trident down at Lunar as he fell from above. Lunar separated his double-sided sword, and hit the trident from each side with one of his swords. Devon flew to the side, along with the trident. He landed on his feet to the side of Lunar, and the trident stuck into the ground in front of him.

"You'll _kill _me?" Lunar asked, rhetorically.

Devon picked up his trident and jumped at Lunar again.

Meanwhile, Kayle had confronted Caleb. He looked at Kayle. His armor was similar to the armor he was wearing before, but there were a few changes to it. There were spikes on each shoulder, and running down his spine as well. His axe was different, too. It was now five feet long, and it was made of a black metal, similar to the axe that Caleb was holding.

"Where did you get that axe?" Caleb asked, glaring at Kayle.

"Oh, this _meteorite _axe?" Kayle said, grinning. "Anx made it for me. He's more resourceful than you think. We have blacksmiths, healers, and thousands of soldiers, as you have seen."

"But how could you join him after he killed your parents?" Caleb said, angrily.

"Because he didn't."

"What… what do you mean?"

"Anx didn't kill my parents. I was in contact with him a long while before they died. When the time was right, _I_ killed my parents, and left the castle."

"It was… you? How could you?" Caleb shouted and charged forward at Kayle. He jumped up, and slashed down with both hands at Kayle. Kayle pulled out his axe and blocked it, and Caleb landed on the ground, while still pushing against Kayle's axe.

"Why did you kill them? Your parents loved you! They treasured you! They wanted you to succeed them! They even dumped your sister for you!"

"My… _sister_? She's still alive? I thought she died a long time ago!"

"You're wishing death upon your own sister?" Caleb began to shake with anger. "I WILL KILL YOU!"

Caleb pushed forward, sending Kayle backwards. He then released his axe on it's chain, and threw it at Kayle. Kayle jumped out of the way, and the axe sailed far past him. Kayle grinned as it missed him, but it came back around and wrapped around his body.

"Gotcha." Caleb said, tightening the grip. Kayle gasped in pain at this. "Try not to struggle. It'll only make it worse." Caleb tightened it again, and Kayle began to scream.

"No… I won't let you kill me. I wont… let you kill me!" Kayle shouted and rose up his axe. "I won't give up!" he slashed the chain, releasing the grip, and causing the top of Caleb's axe to fall to the ground behind his back. Kayle took a deep breath in relief of this. "I've got _you _now."

He charged forward and slashed at Caleb, who was armed with his metal pole. He put it up to block, but it was difficult to withstand Kayle's axe, and he jumped back quickly before he was overcame. He ran around Kayle, trying to retrieve his axe. Kayle quickly jumped in front of Caleb and slashed at him. Caleb put his pole up and ducked out of the way. This wasn't enough, and Kayle's axe came right through the pole, and he kicked Caleb in the stomach, sending him flying. Kayle then quickly jumped behind him, and when he reached that spot, hit him down into the ground. He was about to slash down and make the final blow, but Caleb picked up a half of the pole of his axe, and threw it up at Kayle. It sent Kayle off course, and he landed right behind to Caleb's head on the ground. Caleb put his hands behind him, and flipped his legs over his head, kicking Kayle in the chest, and then landing on his feet. He backed up, and his back hit something. He looked over his shoulder and saw Lunar staring from right behind him.

"How are you doing?" Caleb asked, looking back at Kayle.

"Not good."

"Why's that?"

"They're surrounding us."

Caleb looked over his shoulder and saw that a bunch of soldiers were circling around them. "Oh. I see then."

"Not the time for humor, Caleb."

"Right."

Kayle approached the two standing back to back. "What are you gonna do now? You're stuck."

"Oh really?" Caleb asked.

"Don't provoke him, it'll only get us in deeper trouble." Lunar whispered to Caleb.

"What, do you have a way to get out of this?"

Caleb said nothing, due to the fact that he had no plan.

"I thought not."

Caleb suddenly heard a quick whistling sound go past his ear, and then an arrow came into his sight and pierced Kayle through the heart. Then, a barrage of fire, metal, and thunder came down upon all the soldiers surrounding them.

"Wha?" Caleb said and turned around, in the direction where the arrow came from.

What he saw was so surprising; he never even expected it in the slightest.


	30. Recruitment

The dark figure ran quickly through the night, trying not to alert anyone to its presence. It walked up to a small wooden house and knocked on the door, then waited for a response. After a few minutes, it went to knock again, when the door opened. It was met by a short girl with a dazed look on her face.

She rubbed her eyes and took another look at the figure before her. "Devon? What are you doing here? Where are Lunar and Caleb? Is something wrong?"

"Slow down, Tara!" Devon said. "One question at a time."

"Why did you come here, then?"

"Just wait, I'll explain everything in a few minutes. Just follow me."

He led Tara to another house that she recognized as Samuel's. Devon knocked on the door, and was met by Samuel, who seemed fully awake at this time.

"Devon? Tara? Is something wrong?" Samuel asked, in response to the sudden arrival

"I'll explain in a minute. May we come in?" Devon said.

"Of course, come in."

They walked in, and sat down at the table with Samuel.

"So what's wrong?" Samuel asked.

"I'd like to know too." Tara added.

Devon sighed, "As you know, we left almost ten months ago, to train. Caleb and Lunar are still there training. I did too, for about a month. After that… I joined Anx."

"You WHAT?" Tara asked, slamming her hand against the table and standing up.

"Calm down. I didn't actually join him. I joined him so that I could keep an eye on him and learn about him. I've been operating under him for all that time. I've gone around, recruiting people and performing other missions he needed done, so that I could earn his trust. Right now, he let me run free for a while. I'm recruiting people to help Lunar, Caleb, and I during the final battle."

"What do you need us to do?" Samuel asked, "I doubt I'd be of help to you."

"Quit lying." Devon said, "I saw your weapons in the basement, you can definitely help."

Samuel sighed, "No more secrets I guess."

"And Tara, I'm assuming you can fight too." Devon said, turning to Tara.

"You bet! I'm a very skilled mage." She said, pulling out a tome with a symbol of fire on it.

"That's great."

"So what do you need us to do?" Samuel asked.

"When the day of the comet's passing comes, I need you to show up at the Shockwave. Bring whatever weapons you may need. I'll be recruiting more people, so try to form one group with them."

"Okay. Is that all?"

"Yes, but be prepared. We're fighting Anx. He's more frightening than you think."

"I think I know how frightening he is…" Samuel said, under his breath.

"What? Did you say something?"

"Oh nothing!"

"Well I'll be on my way then."

"Okay."

Devon stepped out the door, and began to head towards Khronya. He passed the mountains, and then went all the way to the southeastern coast of it. He then took a boat to the main Rotodor Island, and headed out for Hextine. By this time, it was well into the day. Once Devon had reached Hextine, he went straight to the king's home, and knocked on the door. He was greeted by the king, who welcomed him in kindly.

"Come in, sit down."

Devon sat down at a table in the king's home, and saw two men sitting at the table as well. One had snow white armor, the other a fiery red. The king then sat down at the table with the three men.

"You called us here?" the man with red armor asked.

"I called you, general of Khronya, and you as well, general of Glacia," he said turning to the man with white armor, "so that I may discuss the problem of Anx with the leaders of all the major nations."

"What is needed to discuss?" Glacia's general asked.

"I'm requesting your assistance in the matter. I would like for you to lend the power of all three armies, on the day of the comet's passing."

"How so?" Glacia's general asked again.

"I would like for you to show up with all of the forces you have by the Shockwave. Anx is powerful, and we need all the help we can get. I've requested the assistance of a few others, so try to find them."

"Alright. I'm in." the king of the Rotodor islands said.

"I'll help too." The general of Glacia said.

The general of Khronya said nothing for a while, and then finally answered. "Why should _I_ help _you_?"

"You don't have to." Devon replied. "You can just be killed along with everyone else when the comet crashes into us."

The general sat there for a moment, and then sighed. "Very well. I'll help."

"I thought so." Devon said. "If we're all agreed, then I'll be going.

"Good-bye." The king said.

Devon left Hextine, and headed back into Khronya by boat yet again. After that, he went all the way back into Glacia, past the Divergent Mountains, and back into the training circle. He had one last person to see. He traveled around the perimeter of the Storm Circle, until he reached a small cave.

He entered, and saw Mia sitting in front a small fire.

"Hey." He said, instantly getting her attention.

"Oh, hello. Devon right?" she said in response to the sudden visitor.

"Yep, that's me."

"Where are the other two?"

"They're still training. But that's not the point. I need to ask a favor of you."

"Sure. What do you need?"

"I need you to help us when we take on Anx."

"You need _my_ help?"

"Yes. I need you to show up at the Shockwave on the day of the comet's passing. There will be a lot of people showing up as well, so you won't be alone. Just meet up with them, and help us to defeat Anx."

"Okay, I don't know if I can help you against Anx, but I'll help regardless."

"Of course you'll be of help."

"Thanks."

"I'd better get back to the others."

"Okay. See you!"

Devon left, and went back to the center of the training ground. He watched Lunar and Caleb fighting eachother.

"Did I miss something?" Devon asked. Lunar turned around and saw him standing a bit behind him. "Or do you enjoy beating on Caleb?"

"Devon!" Lunar yelled, happy to see his friend.

A month passed after this. We come to find Mia, Tara, Samuel and the armies of all three nations standing on a small cliff by the Shockwave.

"Just take the shot." Tara whispered to Mia who was next to her, aiming her bow at Lunar and Caleb's area.

"I can't. They're all moving around. I could hit one of them."

Tara sighed. "Fine."

"Wait, I see something! Get ready, they're being surrounded by a bunch of soldiers. "Now's our chance!"

Tara and Samuel came up to the end of the cliff, seeing the situation that their friends were in.

"Ready? GO!""

Mia let an arrow fly out of her bow, right past Caleb's head, and into Kayle's heart. Tara sent a barrage of fire and thunder using her tomes, and Samuel shot from his large cannon he was holding.

They saw Lunar look up, straight at them.


	31. Brothers

Lunar looked up, and saw the biggest army he ever had. Not only Tara, Mia, and, to his surprise, Samuel were there, but all of the armies of each nation, forming an army a just little bigger than Anx's.

"No! You will not stop me!" they heard Anx shout from over the Shockwave.

He gathered a large amount of aura, and sent a small ball of fire aimed right at the army. It flew, until it reached the army, and a flash of light caused it to expand and explode in a large area.

"Tara!" Lunar shouted reaching his arm out.

"Too late!" Anx yelled, "They're all dead!"

However, the fire cleared, and they saw Tara standing with ten other mages, keeping a shield up against the fire. They let the shield down, and Tara turned and smiled at Lunar.

Lunar sighed. "What are you guys doing here?" he shouted up to them.

Before they responded Devon began to laugh hysterically.

"Sorry we're late, Devon!" Tara shouted down to them.

"What? Late?" Lunar asked, turning to Devon.

Devon continued to laugh, and dropped his weapon, collapsing to the ground.

"What is going on?" Lunar asked.

"Care to explain, Devon? Tara shouted down.

"Sure." Devon shouted back up, and then turned to Lunar and Caleb. "When I went to Anx, I never actually joined him. I "joined" him so that I could keep an eye on him. I did various jobs for him, but when I had the chance, I recruited some people to help us when we fight."

"But you _killed_ Lunar!" Caleb shouted.

"Not exactly. When we first fought Anx, I saw Lunar's wounds when he first got hit. They were very bad. I doubted anyone could survive after those wounds, but after a few days, he was able to walk, and a few more after that, he was perfectly healed. I figured that if I "killed" him, Anx would believe me, but Lunar would be able to survive. My theory worked too. You all ended up fine. Everything has gone according to plan. Now all we need to do… is defeat Anx."

"Yep! That pretty much sums it up!" Tara shouted down again.

"It's still too dangerous!" Lunar shouted, "You shouldn't be here!"

"Don't worry, You weren't the only one training!" Tara said with a smirk.

Devon turned to Tara, then back to Lunar and Caleb.

"Alright, I believe him." Lunar said.

"What?" Caleb asked, "How can you believe him? After all he has done."

"Well, his story is true, up until now."

"See?" Devon said, "I've got everyone here to vouch for me.

"Fine." Caleb said.

"You traitor!" Anx shouted, gaining their attention. "No matter! I'll still destroy the Shockwave, and kill you all! And then, I will rule the new world!"

"No!" Lunar shouted as he drew his crystal sword from his back. "We have to stop them!"

To his left, Caleb picked up Kayle's axe and extended it fully, while Devon, to his right pulled out an array of small knives in his hand. Across from them stood Anx's army of millions of soldiers, and the fighting started between them immediately. Caleb pushed a button with a click, and the metal part of the axe was sent flying at the soldiers. Lunar pulled out his other four swords and started throwing them and slashing the soldiers while he simultaneously slashed with his huge crystal sword. He looked to his right and saw a few soldiers fall forward, with knives in stabbed through their back. They all heard a rumbling and turned around, as the gigantic metal machine before them collapsed and shattered to pieces.

"I never thought…" Caleb said in fear, "It has begun…"

"You stay here." Lunar said, "I'm going to take him on. You take care of the rest of the forces with the other armies."

"Okay. Good luck, confronting your brother."

"I don't need luck this time. He's not my brother anymore. This time, I won't hold back."

He didn't even wait for Caleb to respond, he just flew up to where Anx was hovering above the Shockwave. When he reached Anx, he swung a wide arc, and pushed through where Anx was standing. Anx, however, met him with and equal force, and stopped Lunar right there.

"You'll have to try harder than that if you want to beat me, _Lunar_."

"Oh I will, _Solar_."

"That's not my name!" he shouted and pushed Lunar back with his sword. "I've told you enough! My name is now Anx!"

"You're right, you're not Solar. Solar was a great person. He was pure. But you… you have been corrupted. You aren't even fit enough to be called a Galaxy. And now, you are going to die. You're going to die all alone, blinded by your darkness."

"No. That's where you're wrong. I _will _kill you, and I _will _become ruler. Just like our parents."

"I don't think so. That's impossible. I'm more powerful than you are right now."

"I beg to differ."

"Want to challenge me, then?" Lunar said, pointing his sword at Anx.

"This time, you'll die."

They both flew forward at each other, and collided mid-air with their swords.

"I'll die? You were the one who couldn't kill me back at Castle Khronya! Tell me, why didn't you just kill us right then and there?"

"I… I needed the crystal to mature! It would be useless if I killed you with an immature crystal!"

"You're lying. They don't need to mature; you just need my soul. Admit it! You couldn't bring yourself to kill me! That's why you had Devon do it for you!"

"No! I'll kill you this time!"

Anx flew forward and punched Lunar in the chest, sending him back, past the island the Shockwave was on. Lunar flew right over the lake. However, Lunar was able to recover, and landed on the surface of the water, using his powers to stand on the water. Anx quickly followed up by flying forward and swung down into Lunar, sending a wide shockwave through the water around them. Lunar tried to withstand it, but he was pushed even deeper. Eventually, he was able to move out of the way, and Anx hit down into the water. This caused a gigantic wave to push Lunar back from Anx. Once the waves subsided, Lunar got a clear view of Anx, wet from the waves he had caused. He pulled out his four katanas and, after putting them together, threw the combined sword at Anx. Hoping this would stir Anx for only a moment, he charged quickly after it. However, to his dismay, Anx caught the spinning swords in his hand, while still focused on Lunar. It was too late for Lunar to stop, and Anx hit him to the side. He skidded across the water and eventually came to a stop, floating on the water. Even though he was getting thrown around, he put his hands on the water as if it were a solid surface, and got up again. He looked up, with water dripping onto his face from his hair, and saw Anx still holding is four-sided sword. He then, while Lunar was watching, used his aura to dissolve the swords into thin air. Lunar sighed, and unhooked his sheaths from his hip, letting go of the excess weight.

"Not gonna make this easy, are you?" Lunar asked, putting both hands on his sword.

"Don't worry. It'll be over soon. Once I kill you!" Anx flew forward at Lunar again.

Quickly reacting, Lunar put his sword up to block, but Anx was too powerful and he was sent flying backwards. He did a back flip, landed on his feet, and quickly retaliated by charging at Anx. He swung downwards, and then above his head and down at Anx, after the first strike was blocked. Anx blocked this, and thrust his sword forward at Lunar. Lunar dodged to the left, and slashed the sword out of the way. In the process of this, he continued to spin around, and slashed at Anx's head. Anx leaned back, and dodged the sword. When he leaned back up, he slashed at Lunar's chest. He tried to block, but he was sent flying back. While he was flying back, Anx flew under him, and hit him straight up. Quickly, while Lunar was suspended in the air, Anx jumped up above Lunar.

"It's over!" he shouted, and concentrated his aura, creating a large pointed aura around him, pointed right at Lunar.

He yelled and slammed right into Lunar, sending him flying down into the water. He immediately felt a strong force as he hit the water, followed by a cold sensation enveloping his body. He tried to scream out in pain, but his lungs filled with water when he tried to. He quickly closed his mouth, and held his breath as long as he could. He slowly floated downwards, towards the bottom of the lake.

_Is… is this it for me? _He thought as he drifted down into the lake._ Will I die here? I can't. I'll let everyone down. They will all die. I can't let them all down I… have to get up. I have to stop Anx._ Lunar felt a sharp pain in his back as he hit the bottom of the lake. He couldn't hold his breath any longer, and he opened his mouth. Cold water rushed into his lungs, and he cough and started to scream, though no one could hear him. _No! I can't die! This pain… I can't bear it! _Suddenly, the pain in his chest began to increase to an unbearable amount, and then ceased, while Lunar began to fade. _I guess this is it… It's so cold. I can't feel my body. I can't move. I'm sorry Caleb. I'm sorry Devon. I'm sorry, everyone. I couldn't save you. _Lunar closed his eyes, and faded away, alone at the bottom of the lake.

Anx looked down at the lake, hovering over it, in triumph. He figured that Lunar would be dead by now. He began to fly over to where the armies were fighting.

_No. No! NO!_

All of the sudden, all of the water in the lake spiraled up and converged at one point, headed towards Anx. Right before it hit him, he saw Lunar in the middle, surrounded by aura. He quickly surrounded himself with aura, and blocked Lunar. However, with the force of all the water rushing, as well as Lunar's aura, he was overcome and sent flying into the basin where the water originally was. Lunar let the water fall down on to Anx, and he quickly jumped from under the water, and used his power to stand on it. Lunar then hovered down onto the water.

"I won't lose to you!" Lunar shouted. "I have to save everyone! That's why I'll kill you, and stop the comet!"

"You won't interrupt my plan! I will rule the new world, and I will have ultimate power!"

They both concentrated their auras and flew at each other simultaneously. They jumped up at each other and met each other with equal force, and their auras collided at one point, and spread to wide funnels from that point. Suddenly, a large white light engulfed both of them, and it was blank for a few seconds. This caught the attention of Caleb, who looked over just as they hit each other, and saw the aura behind them come in and form into a large white sphere, engulfing both of them.

"Caleb!" he heard from behind him, "Leave it! We have to fight now!"

Caleb shook his head and looked back to the warring armies in front of him. He had refused to fight with Kayle's axe, and dropped it. Without his axe, he was forced to use only his fighting skills against the soldiers. He jumped forward and pummeled a group of soldiers, forming a crater and shaking the soldiers around him. Immediately after, he jumped up and spun around, kicking a soldier in the face, which in turn knocked over a row of soldiers next to him. While still in the air, he spread his legs and kicked two soldiers next to him. As he was landing, he noticed a soldier from behind thrusting his lance forward at Caleb's back. However, Devon hopped in front of it, hit the lance down, and plunged a knife into the soldier's heart.

"Don't worry," Devon said, "I've got your back."

"Thanks." He said and continued to fight.

He jumped forward and hit a soldier to the side, grabbing his lance. A soldier to his left thrust forward with his lance at Caleb. Caleb turned to the side and swatted the lance away, followed by stabbing the soldier with his lance. Suddenly, he heard screaming, and some soldiers to his left flew out as a large beast hit them around. Right next to it, he saw Mia backing up while shooting arrows at the beast as it hit soldiers off to it's sides.

"What is that thing?" Caleb asked as he ran over to support Mia.

"I don't know. I've never seen anything like it. It must be some genetically altered experiment that Anx has done. Come on, help me!"

Caleb ran forward at the beast, and caught a glimpse of it's front. It was much larger than Caleb, and looked somewhat similar to a human. However, its muscles were much larger, so much that it looked deformed. Around it's hands were cuffs with a few chain links dangling off, where it probably was chained up. Its face resembled that of a boar, with horns and a large snout, though it still walked as a human. He punched with all his force at the beast, but its skin was so hard that it met Caleb's arm with an even greater force than his own. His arm completely stopped, but his body kept going and collided with the beast's chest. It was very hard, and Caleb fell back onto the ground before the beast. It was about to smash Caleb on the ground, when suddenly an arrow came flying at its face. It didn't do much, and only bounced off, but it caught the beast's attention. It looked at Mia, and totally forgot about Caleb on the ground in front of it. It charged straight at Mia, but was interrupted by Devon. He jumped forward, and stabbed it with his trident. It didn't pierce far, but it got the beast angry. It began to roar and flail around. Devon and Mia jumped back before it could hit them. Suddenly, they saw Caleb jump high above the beast while it was flailing, and then pummeled straight down at it. It didn't physically damage the beast, but it knocked it over, and gave them some time. Caleb landed near Devon and Mia, and got ready for the beast to attack again.

"How are we supposed to kill this thing?" Caleb said, frustrated. "It's barely getting hurt by any of our attacks!"

"I'm not sure, but if I were you, I'd be worried about just staying alive." Mia said, "This thing is way to powerful."

"Watch out, here it comes again." Devon said.

The beast got up, even angrier now, and charged at Devon, Caleb and Mia.

"I've got it!" Caleb yelled and charged at the beast.

He punched forward, but the beast attacked him too, and he went flying to the side.

"Cover me." Devon said, and jumped up above the beast.

It looked up at Devon, but a flurry of arrows caused it to look over at Mia, giving Devon a chance to attack. He stabbed down into the beast's head with his trident, and it began to roar. Devon fell off, and hit the ground at this. The beast now focused all it's attention at Mia. It began to walk slowly towards her, and she backed up with each of its steps. Eventually, it caught up the distance with her, and stood right before her. It lifted its arms above its head, and was about to smash down on Mia. Suddenly, she heard a loud boom, and not even a second later; a large metal sphere came flying at the beast, and pierced right through its chest. Mia turned around, and saw Samuel standing on a small cliff behind her.

"I've got you!" Samuel shouted over.

Mia sighed, and collapsed to her knees. "Thank God."

Both Caleb and Devon got up, and walked over to Mia.

"Come on, let's go." He said. "Wait, what is that?" Caleb said, noticing where Lunar and Anx had met. "That energy is expanding!"

What was originally a small sphere the size of two people was now a large sphere, nearly reaching the outer shore of the lake.

"What is Lunar doing in there?" Devon said, and then sighed, "He'd better hurry up."

Lunar looked around. He was surrounded completely by white space. There was nothing in the horizon, just emptiness.

"What is going on?" he shouted into the emptiness. "Is anyone out there?"

"You don't remember this?" he heard a voice from behind him say.

He turned quickly, in surprise, and saw Anx. "What do you mean?"

"When we first fought each other, long ago. When we collided with our auras. We fought each other here. Don't you remember?"

"No. All I remember is hitting you with all my power, and then I was on the ground."

"So you remember nothing of our fight during this?"

"Not at all."

"Oh… Good. Now I have an advantage." Anx said under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

"Oh really?"

"Yes really! Now enough talk." He yelled and flew at Lunar, surrounded by red aura.

Lunar reached down to grab his sword, but his hand felt nothing. Before he could retaliate, Anx hit right into him. Lunar flew back, and rolled for a long time. Lunar waited to hit a wall or anything, but he kept rolling. Eventually he skidded to a stop, to what seemed bigger than the entire area of the Shockwave. Anx flew at him again, but this time Lunar was prepared, and blocked with his aura.

"So you don't remember then. When we fight here, we have no weapons, armor, or advantages over each other, besides our aura." Anx said.

Lunar looked down, and saw that all he had on him was a long white cloak.

"It doesn't matter." He said, trying to sound more powerful than Anx. "I'll still beat you with only my aura."

"Bring it on!" Anx shouted, and they both charged at each other.

They collided mid air, with their full aura. And the white space was suddenly filled with color. A whole spectrum of light expanded out from their collision point. Eventually the auras exploded, and sent the two flying backwards, away from each other. Anx did a back flip and landed on his feet, while Lunar hit his back hard and rolled backwards. Anx quickly charged back at Lunar, while Lunar was still struggling to get up. He jumped high above Lunar, and charged straight down like an arrow with his aura at Lunar. Quickly, Lunar charged a lot of aura above himself, and it met Anx's attack, causing the aura to disintegrate. While Anx was still trying to push through Lunar's aura, Lunar got up and charged up at the point Anx was attacking. Eventually, they both gave up, and jumped back across from each other. Before Lunar could even look at him, Anx charged again. He hit Lunar straight up, and then flew up to where Lunar was headed, and hit him to the side. He continued to do this, and once he finally had Lunar up, he smashed Lunar with all his power into the ground. Before he landed, he charged all of his aura, and shot a large concentrated beam down at Lunar. The once beautiful white space was now polluted with burns and blood. Lunar struggled up; blood was dripping from his mouth. Anx took advantage of this moment and charged at Lunar. He didn't even bother to use his aura, he just charged with his fist forward. Just as he reached Lunar, Lunar suddenly seemed less exhausted and wounded. He grabbed Anx's arm, and threw it behind him, sending Anx, flying behind him. Before Anx hit the ground, Lunar flew over to where he was falling into the ground, and smashed him right as he reached the ground.

"Wha… What just happened?" Anx said, lying on the ground, "I'm sure I had you."

"That's exactly what I wanted." Lunar said, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth. "I wanted you to feel like you had beat me, so I have been observing you this whole time. Once you thought you had beat me, I'd strike."

Anx jumped up and tried to hit Lunar, but he dodged out of the way, and hit Anx in the chest. Anx hit the ground, and rolled back, determined to beat Lunar. He was about to attack, when Lunar quickly jumped above him, and smashed him into the ground. Anx got up yet again, and began to charge all of his aura. He channeled it all into his palm, into one large sphere in his hand, radiating energy in all directions. Lunar did the same, but to Anx it seemed that Lunar's aura was larger. He smirked, and then focused on Lunar again. They charged at each other with their auras, and they collided at one point, causing a large explosion of energy. The two of them saw nothing next, just a large flash of light. After that, it was all over.

…

_You've grown, Lunar._


	32. Dawn of A New Day

Caleb suddenly saw a burst of light out of the corner of his eye, and quickly looked over to see what it was. The white sphere where Lunar and Anx collided, which was now much larger than before, suddenly exploded into small light particles. Caleb saw Lunar hovering in the air, and Anx's body was hovering horizontal in front of him. After a few seconds, this had everyone's attention, and the fighting ceased completely; all of it focused on Lunar and Anx in the air.

"Lord Anx has fallen!" they all heard a soldier say. "Retreat!" he shouted and Anx's army began to run away, while their enemies followed them.

"Wai-" Caleb began to shout, but Devon put his arm on Caleb's shoulder.

"Leave them." He said.

"Very well."

Lunar descended to the ground, along with Anx. He struggled to talk, but managed to get something out.

"I'm… I'm sorry… Lunar. I… I let the crystal… consume me. If I had been purer… like you… then maybe… maybe this wouldn't have happened."

"I'm sorry this had to happen, Solar. I'm sorry that we had to fight."

"Don't… don't call me that."

"Stubborn until the end. I will call you Solar. I want you to be remembered as Solar. I don't want to say that you died as Anx. I want you to be pure, for the last moments of your life."

"Very… Very well." He reached to his neck, and ripped of the pendant with by its chain. "Take this. Use it… to save your friends. Stop the comet. I… believe in you."

Lunar took the pendant, and as soon as he touched it, Anx began to fade, and absorbed in to the crystal. Not a trace was left of him. Caleb was watching from behind Lunar, and he saw tears dripping down from Lunar's face onto the ground.

"Lunar… I'm so sorry." Caleb said.

Lunar wiped the tears from his eyes and turned to Caleb. "It's fine. It had to be done."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." Lunar suddenly took notice that it was pitch black night outside. "Wait… how long was I in there?"

"What do you mean?"

"I swear I was only in there for about an hour, not even!"

"No, you've been in there all night."

"All night? How can that be?"

"Time moves slower when you enter that dimension." Samuel interrupted. "Your father experienced it, and told me about it. Time moves ten times slower than the rate of normal time. That's how you were able to fight for so short and appear out here so much later."

"What about the comet?" Lunar asked, suddenly realized that they were in danger.

"See for yourself." Caleb said, motioning upward.

Lunar looked up, and saw the comet, about the size of the moon in the sky.

"How long do you say we have?" he asked, turning to Samuel.

"About a half an hour until impact."

"Then I have just enough time."

"Enough time for what?" Caleb asked.

"To perform the ritual to merge my crystal and Solar's."

Lunar kneeled to the ground, and put the two crystals next to each other, as well as their swords. He put his hands over both, and charged all of his aura, sending it into both crystals. He did this for fifteen minutes, and eventually his aura stopped flowing. After a few more seconds, both crystals exploded with aura, and there was a large flash of light. Lunar looked away, and when he looked back, one white crystal and white sword lay on the ground. He picked up the crystal and put it around his neck. He picked up his sword, and held it at the ready.

"I'm ready." he said, looking up at the comet.

"Lunar are you sure?" Samuel said.

"I'm sure. I don't care what happens, even if I die. I'll save you."

"Wait… can't you just heal him if he dies?" Caleb asked, turning to Samuel.

"No." Lunar responded for Samuel. "If you remember, the only thing that can kill a crystal user is another crystal user… or the comet itself."

"But there has to be another way!"

"There isn't. It doesn't matter. I'll sacrifice myself to save you all."

He looked at the people standing before him.

"Mia." He approached first. "I'm sorry for your losses. I feel your pain. Both of my parents were murdered, and I had to kill my brother as well. I know what it feels like."

"Don't apologize. I wasn't as connected to my family as you were. I don't think I have the feelings you had. I should be the one saying sorry."

"Thank you." He said and turned to Devon. "Devon. I have to tell you. Ever since I first saw you, I knew that you would be great. Your skills are amazing. Even when you betrayed us, I still believed in you. I must ask one thing of you. I want you… to become the greatest warrior in the new world. I want you to live up to my expectation."

"I will." Devon said, and tears were dripping down his face.

"Grandpa." He turned to Samuel. "Please guide them. I want you to make sure they don't stray from their path."

"I will. I'll respect your last wishes."

"Thank you."

"Tara. I'm sorry that I have to leave you. I only wish we could have gotten to spend more of our lives together."

"Lunar!" she yelled, and collapsed into his arms, tears dripping down her face. "Don't leave!"

"I'm sorry. I have to."

Tara looked up and kissed Lunar, and then back away, still crying.

"Caleb. You were my best friend ever since we met at the Weapons Academy. You're also one of the best fighters that I know. So, I'm going to relinquish my title as ruler of Galaxia… to you. I want you to rule over the two connected continents. I also want you to give everyone here a position of power within the kingdom. Can you do that for me?"

"I can." He said, trying not to cry.

"Thank you." He looked up at the comet. It was still high in the sky, but he decided it was time to stop it. "I bid you all farewell."

He shot up, sword in his hands, surrounded by a bright white aura. Eventually he turned into a tiny white spec, surrounded by a large red ball in the sky.

Lunar was yelling as he got closer to the comet. He felt a strong force trying to push him back, but he continued to push with all his force. Once he was only feet away from the comet, he released all of the aura he was storing up, and it exploded all around the comet. He then stabbed right into the comet, charging most of his aura through his sword. His body trembled. He was in the presence of Eternity's Comet; the very comet that he had feared for so long. Now, he had his sword plunged into the comet. _He _was stopping the comet. He savored the feeling. He knew he had set a legacy for himself.

_But what was the point?_

Tara, Mia, Samuel, Devon and Caleb all looked up at the comet. Suddenly, the small white speck that they saw expanded, much larger than the comet and engulfed the large red ball of fire. It lit up the night sky completely, and they had to look away. When the light had gone down, they looked into the night sky. There was nothing left, not even the comet. Suddenly, they noticed a whirling sound, and Lunar's white sword came spinning, and stuck straight up into the ground. A few seconds later, Lunar's white crystal came down and the chain landed around the hilt of Lunar's sword. They looked up, and nothing else came.

"Lunar!" Tara shouted into the sky and collapsed to her knees.

Suddenly, a small beam of light came from the direction of the Shockwave, and hit Lunar's crystal. It caused the crystal to light up with all colors and illuminate the entire area they were in.

Mia looked over to the Shockwave, where the beam of light came from. Just over it was small part of the sun, illuminating parts of the night sky.

"It's sunrise." She said, alerting the others.

"To think." Caleb said, "Only because of Lunar are we seeing this now. Our world could have been completely destroyed, but we're still alive because of Lunar. Treasure this moment. Never take life for granted, ever again."

They all were silent after that.


	33. New World

"My lord." A man said, kneeling before his king.

"Get up from your knees, you don't need to be so formal. What is it?"

"It's the anniversary."

"Today?"

"Yes."

"Wow."

The king got up, and looked at the man before him.

"Let's go. Have you alerted the rest?"

"Yes, they're all waiting for us down there."

"Good."

They walked down to the bottom of the caste, and entered the garden. The king looked at the large lake and many plants in front of him. He took a deep breath in, taking in the nostalgic air. He walked over to where three other people were standing. He looked

at the sword and the grave before him. He looked at the text he so familiarly remembered carving into the grave.

_In the remembrance of Lunar Galaxy._

_He saved us all from Eternity's Comet. If not for him, we would all be dead. However, the only way he was able to save us was to sacrifice himself. His life was filled with many experiences. Betrayal, death of loved ones, and being forced to kill his own brother. Remember him forever._

_Rest in Peace, Lunar._

"Let us honor him." The knig said, and they were all silent for a long time.

Ten years have passed from Lunar's death. Caleb, Devon, Mia, Tara and Samuel honored him every year like this. After that fateful day, when Lunar had died, they all continued to do great things.

Samuel helped in guiding Caleb, Devon, Mia and Tara into rebuilding the nations, and joining them together. With his job done, he relinquished his crystal, and accepted death.

Caleb became the king of the newly joined country of Galaxia. He established his castle around the area of the Shockwave. However, he preserved that specific area inside the castle, and made it the garden. It was off limits all the time, except for the day of Lunar's death. Anyone was allowed to pay tribute to Lunar that day.

Mia became the queen of Galaxia, and Caleb's wife. They married two years after Lunar's death, when their castle was finished. They had two twin daughters a year later, who continued on to lead Galaxia after them. The rule of her and Caleb was commonly referred to in history as "The Golden Age."

Devon became the general of Galaxia's armed forces and Caleb's right hand man. He was the greatest warrior in all the land, and was respected everywhere. Many tales were told of "Devon the Great."

A new Weapons Academy was established inside the castle, and was used to train youths to eventually be in the army. Tara was given the leadership as the instructor of the Weapons Academy. She was loved by all the students for her kind personality and skills as a mage.

They all lived happily for the rest of their lives, free of conflict. This era free of conflict lasted for thousands of years.


End file.
